Salah Eddine Boulfelfel

Unexpected Stable Stoichiometries of Sodium Chlorides

Salt to Squeeze Simple table salt, NaCl, is the only known stable phase of Na and Cl at ambient conditions. Previous attempts to understand its structure and chemical properties under pressure and at high temperatures revealed phase and bonding transitions, while keeping the balance of one Na to one Cl. Using crystal structure prediction algorithms, Zhang et al. (p. 1502; see the Perspective by Ibáñez Insa) show that other compounds—including Na3Cl, Na2Cl, Na3Cl2, NaCl3, and NaCl7 are as stable as NaCl across a range of pressures. Several phases in the Na-Cl system are stable at high pressures and temperatures. [Also see Perspective by Ibáñez Insa] Sodium chloride (NaCl), or rocksalt, is well characterized at ambient pressure. As a result of the large electronegativity difference between Na and Cl atoms, it has highly ionic chemical bonding (with 1:1 stoichiometry dictated by charge balance) and B1-type crystal structure. By combining theoretical predictions and diamond anvil cell experiments, we found that new materials with different stoichiometries emerge at high pressures. Compounds such as Na3Cl, Na2Cl, Na3Cl2, NaCl3, and NaCl7 are theoretically stable and have unusual bonding and electronic properties. To test this prediction, we synthesized cubic and orthorhombic NaCl3 and two-dimensional metallic tetragonal Na3Cl. These experiments establish that compounds violating chemical intuition can be thermodynamically stable even in simple systems at nonambient conditions.

Understanding the nature of “superhard graphite”

Numerous experiments showed that on cold compression graphite transforms into a new superhard and transparent allotrope. Several structures with different topologies have been proposed for this phase. While experimental data are compatible with most of these models, the only way to solve this puzzle is to find which structure is kinetically easiest to form. Using state-of-the-art molecular-dynamics transition path sampling simulations, we investigate kinetic pathways of the pressure-induced transformation of graphite to various superhard candidate structures. Unlike hitherto applied methods for elucidating nature of superhard graphite, transition path sampling realistically models nucleation events necessary for physically meaningful transformation kinetics. We demonstrate that nucleation mechanism and kinetics lead to M-carbon as the final product. W-carbon, initially competitor to M-carbon, is ruled out by phase growth. Bct-C4 structure is not expected to be produced by cold compression due to less probable nucleation and higher barrier of formation.

Atomistic investigation of Li+ diffusion pathways in the olivine LiFePO4 cathode material

We present a molecular dynamics study of Li+ jump frequencies in the olivine LiFePO4 cathode material. Besides the principal diffusion pathways along [010] we also find relevant particle motion along [001]. We produce a very detailed landscape of many-particle motion, consistent with the complex nature of the diffusion phenomenon. Patterns of Frenkel defect creation and migration are described in stoichiometric, defect-free LiFePO4 as well as in the presence of antisite defects. We stress the importance of many-particle Li hoppings to capture diffusion and transport processes in detail.

Mechanism of the fcc-to-hcp phase transformation in solid Ar

We present an atomistic description of the fcc-to-hcp transformation mechanism in solid argon (Ar) obtained from transition path sampling molecular dynamics simulation. The phase transition pathways collected during the sampling for an 8000-particle system reveal three transition types according to the lattice deformation and relaxation details. In all three transition types, we see a critical accumulation of defects and uniform growth of a less ordered transition state, followed by a homogeneous growth of an ordered phase. Stacking disorder is discussed to describe the transition process and the cooperative motions of atoms in {111} planes. We investigate nucleation with a larger system: in a system of 18 000 particles, the collective movements of atoms required for this transition are facilitated by the formation and growth of stacking faults. However, the enthalpy barrier is still far beyond the thermal fluctuation. The high barrier explains previous experimental observations of the inaccessibility of the bulk transition at low pressure and its sluggishness even at extremely high pressure. The transition mechanism in bulk Ar is different from Ar nanoclusters as the orthorhombic intermediate structure proposed for the latter is not observed in any of our simulations.

Metastable host-guest structure of carbon

A family of metastable host-guest structures, the prototype of which is a tetragonal tP9 structure with 9 atoms per cell has been found. It is composed of an 8-atoms tetragonal host, with atoms filling channels oriented along the c-axis. The tP9 structure has a strong analogy with the recently discovered Ba-IV- and Rb-IV-type incommensurate structures. By considering modulations of the structure due to the variations of the host/guest ratio, it has been concluded that the most stable representative of this family of structures has a guest/host ratio of 2/3 and 26 atoms in the unit cell (space group P42/m). This structure is 0.39 eV/atom higher in energy than diamond. We predict it to have band gap 4.1 eV, bulk modulus 384 GPa, and hardness 61–71 GPa. Due to the different local environments of the host and guest atoms, we considered the possibility of replacing carbon atoms in the guest sublattice by Si atoms in the tP9 prototype and study the properties of the resulting compound SiC8, which was found to have remarkably high bulk modulus 361.2 GPa and hardness 46.2 GPa.

Framework reconstruction between hR8 and cI16 germaniums: A molecular dynamics study

Using molecular dynamics simulations and a Density Functional based Tight Binding method, the metastable germanium allotropes hR8 and cI16 are shown to interconvert by means of two sets of quasi-1D chains. The first set hosts sequences of SN2 inversions of Ge tetrahedral centers, and represents the activated step. The second set does not imply any reconstruction, but assists the first one in propagating the reconstruction. The overall process is commenced by bond nucleation, followed by chain formation and reconstruction into either structure. A novel intermediate metastable phase is visited in the process. Elementary steps of chemical reactivity are accessible due to the appropriate time and spatial resolution of the methods used. This paves the way for a chemical understanding of structure reconstruction and metastable phase formation in solid materials.

The rules of metastability: detailed transformation mechanisms in chemical elements by means of molecular dynamics techniques

The existence of polymorphs or chemical element allotropes is a fact of nature that remains surprising. On the one hand, it is unevenly distributed, with only some compounds or elements distinguished by a large number of polymorphs or allotropes. On the other hand, many crystal structure are predicted, which can exist in principle. We argue that this imbalance may derive form an imperfect knowledge of transformation mechanisms, which solely determine the formation of a certain product. Especially in a scenario of nucleation and growth, reasoning on the mechanical stability of the final product only may mislead the overall judgement on the accessibility of a particular compound. We illustrate mechanistic analysis of selected reconstructive phase transitions by state of the art accelerated molecular dynamics techniques. We emphasize the role of nucleation in phase selection, and stress the necessary inclusion of details on intermediate steps for a more capable crystal structure prediction activity.