Robles-Navarro A, Jerabek P, Schwerdtfeger P. Tipping the Balance Between the bcc and fcc Phase Within the Alkali and Coinage Metal Groups.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2024;
63:e202313679. [PMID:
37877444 DOI:
10.1002/anie.202313679]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2023] [Revised: 10/24/2023] [Accepted: 10/25/2023] [Indexed: 10/26/2023]
Abstract
Why the Group 1 elements crystallize in the body-centered cubic (bcc) structure, and the iso-electronic Group 11 elements in the face-centered cubic (fcc) structure, remains a mystery. Here we show that a delicate interplay between many-body effects, vibrational contributions and dispersion interactions obtained from relativistic density functional theory offers an answer to this long-standing controversy. It also sheds light on the Periodic Table of Crystal Structures. A smooth diffusionless transition through cuboidal lattices gives a detailed insight into the bcc→fcc phase transition for the Groups 1 and 11 elements.
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