2026-05-04 アルゴンヌ国立研究所（ANL）
A visualization of the modular crystal structures discovered by Argonne and Northwestern scientists. Each colored dot represents a different atomic building unit (black = Ba, blue = Sb, red = Te, yellow = S), showing how swapping elements leads to a series of unique, ordered arrangements within the same material family. (Image by Argonne National Laboratory.)
＜関連情報＞
- https://www.anl.gov/article/superconductors-by-design-argonne-scientists-rewrite-the-rules-of-discovery
- https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aea8088
化学量論的に保存された相同系列でありながら、構造的多様性は無限である A stoichiometrically conserved homologous series with infinite structural diversity
Hengdi Zhao, Xiuquan Zhou, Ziliang Wang, Patricia E. Meza, […] , and Mercouri G. Kanatzidis
Science Published:4 Dec 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aea8088
Editor’s summary
A series of BaSbQ3 crystals (where Q is sulfur or tellurium) has been synthesized, and its structural diversity is directly driven by systematically varying the S/Te ratio. Zhao et al. synthesized at least 10 of these “stoichiomorphs” composed of rocksalt slab fragments stacked together with polytelluride zigzag chains. Each member differed only in the size and assembly of these blocks, and the crystal phase that resulted depended on differences in anion electron affinity and sizes. —Phil Szuromi
Abstract
We describe a compositionally guided structural evolution within a stoichiometrically conserved framework, BaSbQ3 (Q = Te1−xSx), where each value of x gives rise to a distinct phase. The fundamental building blocks, A1 (BaSbSTe2) and Bn (BanSbnSn−1Te2n+1), were composed of modular double rocksalt slabs stacked with functional polytelluride zigzag chains, with each phase differing only in the size and assembly of these blocks. Ten compounds were synthesized that maintained a coherent chemical identity that arose from this isovalent, isoelectronic substitution of Te and S. We envision that the phase formation at a molecular level unfolds in stages of extension, termination, and assembly and propose a design concept of “anionic disparity,” where phase homologies and polytelluride hierarchical networks can be controlled by leveraging differences in anion electron affinity and sizes.
