A new type of vanadium carbide V5C3 and its hardening by tuning Fermi energy.

ABSTRACT: Transition metal compounds usually have various stoichiometries and crystal structures due to the coexistence of metallic, covalent, and ionic bonds in them. This flexibility provides a lot of candidates for materials design. Taking the V-C binary system as an example, here we report the first-principles prediction of a new type of vanadium carbide, V5C3, which has an unprecedented stoichiometry in the V-C system, and is energetically and mechanically stable. The material is abnormally much harder than neighboring compounds in the V-C phase diagram, and can be further hardened by tuning the Fermi energy.

SUBMITTER: Xing W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4772090 | biostudies-other | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other