New Boron-Stabilized Carbon Clathrate Structures

Diamond is a remarkable material with many exceptional properties, but additional three-dimensional, extended sp3 carbon structures are surprisingly rare. Using high-pressure methods, we recently discovered a new 3D boron-stabilized carbon framework material with polyhedral cages that trap metal atoms. This new carbon-based framework, called Type-I clathrate, was previously predicted to exhibit exceptional strength/hardness, as well unique properties such as high-temperature superconductivity. Based on this result, we propose extended studies on these materials to include new compositions and structure types. These results will reveal a new family of diamond-like supermaterials with tunable electronic structures, and will reveal the role of guest–host interactions on stability and physical properties.