Thermodynamic limit for synthesis of metastable inorganic materials.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 29725618.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.aaq0148 and PMC identifier 5930398.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC.
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Abstract
Realizing the growing number of possible or hypothesized metastable crystalline materials is extremely challenging. There is no rigorous metric to identify which compounds can or cannot be synthesized. We present a thermodynamic upper limit on the energy scale, above which the laboratory synthesis of a polymorph is highly unlikely. The limit is defined on the basis of the amorphous state, and we validate its utility by effectively classifying more than 700 polymorphs in 41 common inorganic material systems in the Materials Project for synthesizability. The amorphous limit is highly chemistry-dependent and is found to be in complete agreement with our knowledge of existing polymorphs in these 41 systems, whether made by the nature or in a laboratory. Quantifying the limits of metastability for realizable compounds, the approach is expected to find major applications in materials discovery.