Structure of superhard tungsten tetraboride: a missing link between MB2 and MB12 higher borides

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Andrew T LechRichard B Kaner

Abstract

Superhard metals are of interest as possible replacements with enhanced properties over the metal carbides commonly used in cutting, drilling, and wear-resistant tooling. Of the superhard metals, the highest boride of tungsten--often referred to as WB4 and sometimes as W(1-x)B3--is one of the most promising candidates. The structure of this boride, however, has never been fully resolved, despite the fact that it was discovered in 1961--a fact that severely limits our understanding of its structure-property relationships and has generated increasing controversy in the literature. Here, we present a new crystallographic model of this compound based on refinement against time-of-flight neutron diffraction data. Contrary to previous X-ray-only structural refinements, there is strong evidence for the presence of interstitial arrangements of boron atoms and polyhedral bonding. The formation of these polyhedral--slightly distorted boron cuboctahedra--appears to be dependent upon the defective nature of the tungsten-deficient metal sublattice. This previously unidentified structure type has an intermediary relationship between MB2 and MB12 type boride polymorphs. Manipulation of the fractionally occupied metal and boron sites may provi...Continue Reading

References

May 19, 2005·Journal of the American Chemical Society·Robert W CumberlandRichard B Kaner
May 28, 2005·Science·Richard B KanerSarah H Tolbert
Oct 16, 2009·Angewandte Chemie·Barbara Albert, Harald Hillebrecht
Sep 8, 2010·Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics : PCCP·Erjun ZhaoZhijian Wu
Jun 22, 2011·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Reza MohammadiRichard B Kaner
Apr 4, 2012·Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal·H WerheitM Antadze
Sep 26, 2012·Physical Review Letters·R F ZhangS Veprek
Nov 23, 2012·Journal of the American Chemical Society·Reza MohammadiRichard B Kaner
May 28, 2014·Scientific Reports·Yongcheng LiangWenqing Zhang

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Citations

Apr 27, 2016·Journal of the American Chemical Society·Georgiy AkopovRichard B Kaner
Mar 23, 2017·Advanced Materials·Georgiy AkopovRichard B Kaner
Dec 23, 2015·Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics : PCCP·Yunkun ZhangHo-kwang Mao
Dec 15, 2015·Nanoscale·Yongcheng LiangPeihong Zhang
Jul 25, 2017·Inorganic Chemistry·Guillaume GougetDavid Portehault
Jul 11, 2019·Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics : PCCP·Ning WangRuifeng Zhang
Jan 8, 2020·Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal·Haijing LiDongliang Chen
Aug 25, 2020·Advanced Science·Alexander G KvashninArtem Ya Zakirov
Dec 5, 2020·Advanced Materials·Ziyan ZhangJakoah Brgoch
Mar 20, 2021·ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces·Yongcheng LiangGuo-Jun Zhang
Dec 6, 2018·Inorganic Chemistry·Lisa E PangilinanRichard B Kaner
Nov 16, 2017·Journal of the American Chemical Society·Georgiy AkopovRichard B Kaner
Mar 4, 2020·The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters·Dmitry V RybkovskiyArtem R Oganov
Oct 5, 2021·Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal·Haijing LiDongliang Chen
Jan 7, 2022·Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation·Evgeny V PodryabinkinAlexander V Shapeev

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