The Li-F-H ternary system at high pressures.

Evolutionary crystal structure prediction searches have been employed to explore the ternary Li-F-H system at 300 GPa. Metastable phases were uncovered within the static lattice approximation, with LiFH, LiFH, LiFH, LiFH, LiFH, and LiFH lying within 50 meV/atom of the 0 K convex hull. All of these phases contain HF (n = 1, 2) anions and Li cations.

Benchmarking boron carbide equation of state using computation and experiment.

Boron carbide (B_{4}C) is of both fundamental scientific and practical interest due to its structural complexity and how it changes upon compression, as well as its many industrial uses and potential for use in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and high-energy density physics experiments. We report the results of a comprehensive computational study of the equation of state (EOS) of B_{4}C in the liquid, warm dense matter, and plasma phases. Our calculations are cross-validated by comparisons with Hugoniot measurements up to 61 megabar from planar shock experiments performed at the National Ignition Facility (NIF).

Superconducting Phases of Phosphorus Hydride Under Pressure: Stabilization by Mobile Molecular Hydrogen.

At 80 GPa, phases with the PH stoichiometry, which are composed of simple cubic like phosphorus layers capped with hydrogen atoms and layers of H molecules, are predicted to be important species contributing to the recently observed superconductivity in compressed phosphine. The electron-phonon coupling in these phases results from the motions of the phosphorus atoms and the hydrogen atoms bound to them. The role of the mobile H layers is to decrease the Coulomb repulsion between the negatively charged hydrogen atoms capping the phosphorus layers.

Decomposition Products of Phosphine Under Pressure: PH2 Stable and Superconducting?

Evolutionary algorithms (EAs) coupled with density functional theory (DFT) calculations have been used to predict the most stable hydrides of phosphorus (PHn, n = 1-6) at 100, 150, and 200 GPa. At these pressures phosphine is unstable with respect to decomposition into the elemental phases, as well as PH2 and H2. Three metallic PH2 phases were found to be dynamically stable and superconducting between 100 and 200 GPa.

Superconducting High-Pressure Phases Composed of Hydrogen and Iodine.

Evolutionary structure searches predict three new phases of iodine polyhydrides stable under pressure. Insulating P1-H5I, consisting of zigzag chains of (HI)δ+ and H2 δ− molecules, is stable between 30 and 90 GPa. Cmcm-H2I and P6/mmm-H4I are found on the 100, 150, and 200 GPa convex hulls.

Theoretical predictions of novel potassium chloride phases under pressure.

Evolutionary structure searches predict two hitherto unknown phases of KCl that are the most stable in the pressure regime of 200-600 GPa. I41/amd-KCl, which has the lowest enthalpy between ∼200-350 GPa, can be thought of as being composed of two three-connected nets. This structure can be compared with that of the Cs-IV electride (Cs(+)e(-)): the potassium ions assume the positions of the cesium ions, and the chloride ions are found roughly in the regions of the valence electrons.

Compressed cesium polyhydrides: Cs+ sublattices and H3(-) three-connected nets.

The cesium polyhydrides (CsH(n), n > 1) are predicted to become stable, with respect to decomposition into CsH and H2, at pressures as low as 2 GPa. The CsH3 stoichiometry is found to have the lowest enthalpy of formation from CsH and H2 between 30 and 200 GPa. Evolutionary algorithms predict five distinct, mechanically stable, nearly isoenthalpic CsH3 phases consisting of H3(–) molecules and Cs+ atoms.