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A Lanthanum‐Filled Carbon–Boron Clathrate
Author(s) -
Strobel Timothy A.,
Zhu Li,
Guńka Piotr A.,
Borstad Gustav M.,
Guerette Michael
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.202012821
Subject(s) - clathrate hydrate , isostructural , crystallography , boron , octahedron , lanthanum , carbon fibers , sodalite , chemistry , crystal structure , materials science , inorganic chemistry , hydrate , organic chemistry , zeolite , composite number , composite material , catalysis
We report a carbon‐boron clathrate with composition 2 La@B 6 C 6 (LaB 3 C 3 ). Like recently reported SrB 3 C 3 , [1] single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction and computational modelling indicate that the isostructural La member crystallizes in the cubic bipartite sodalite structure (Type‐VII clathrate) with La atoms encapsulated within truncated octahedral cages composed of alternating carbon and boron atoms. The covalent nature of the B−C bonding results in a hard, incompressible framework, and owing to the balanced electron count, La 3+ [B 3 C 3 ] 3− exhibits markedly improved pressure stability and is a semiconductor with an indirect band gap predicted near 1.3 eV. A variety of different guest atoms may potentially be substituted within Type‐VII clathrate cages, presenting opportunities for a large family of boron‐stabilized, carbon‐based clathrates with ranging physical properties.