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    Superhard and superconducting boron clathrates in the prediction of U-B compounds

    Juefei Wu1, Dexi Shao2, Junjie Wang3, Yu Han3, Bangshuai Zhu1, Cuiying Pei1, Qi Wang1,4, Jian Sun3,*, and Yanpeng Qi1,4,5,†

    • 1State Key Laboratory of Quantum Functional Materials, School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China
    • 2School of Physics, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
    • 3National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Physics and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
    • 4ShanghaiTech Laboratory for Topological Physics, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China
    • 5Shanghai Key Laboratory of High-resolution Electron Microscopy, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China

    • *Contact author: jiansun@nju.edu.cn
    • †Contact author: qiyp@shanghaitech.edu.cn

    Phys. Rev. Materials 9, 123601 – Published 1 December, 2025

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/jskf-cfcg

    Abstract

    The binary metal borides provide a promising platform for searching for unique materials with superconductivity and superhardness under high pressure, owing to the distinctive bonding characteristics of boron. In this work, we combined the first-principles calculations and crystal structure predictions, and we predicted four exotic stoichiometries and eight unique U-B compounds under high pressure. The predicted compounds have layered or caged structure units, and four of them host high hardness under ambient pressure. By removal of the U atoms, we predicted three metastable boron clathrates at ambient pressure. Remarkably, the Vickers hardness of the predicted C2/m−B6 is estimated to be 49–53 GPa, and the C2/m−B12 is superconducting with the Tc value of 16.12 K. Our calculations enrich the phase diagram of binary metal borides and boron allotropes, providing insights for the future theoretical and experimental studies on unique materials.

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