AgH

Silver hydride · argentous hydride

Silver hydride is a metastable, semiconducting compound formed from silver and hydrogen that is primarily studied for its structural properties under high-pressure conditions.

AgH
Crystal structure of AgH (hexagonal, P63mc (No. 186))
Ground-state structure · Materials Project
Overview

About Silver hydride

Silver hydride is a binary compound composed of silver and hydrogen. It exhibits semiconducting electronic properties and is recognized as a metastable material that sits above the thermodynamic hull, indicating it is not typically found in stable, bulk equilibrium states under ambient conditions.

Despite its instability, this compound is of significant interest in high-pressure physics and theoretical chemistry. Researchers study its structural diversity across multiple phases to understand the bonding interactions between noble metals and hydrogen, which provides insights into potential superconducting or high-density hydrogen storage materials.

At a glance

Key Properties

Cross-validated computational properties for Silver hydride, aggregated across 4 databases.

Band Gap

0.21–0.99 eV
Range across DFT structures · ground state: narrow gap

Energy Above Hull

0.121 eV/atom
Best (lowest) across sources

Stability

Unstable
3 DFT sources

Structures

21
4 databases, 6 space groups
Validation

Cross-Source DFT Agreement

How well independent DFT databases agree on the thermodynamics of AgH. Tight agreement means computed properties can be trusted without re-running calculations.

Agreement Score

0.52 / 1.00
Trust tier: low

Hull Spread

0.119 eV
EAH spread across sources

Sources Compared

3
jarvis, materials_project, oqmd

Space Group Consensus

All match
Crystallography

Reported Structures

Lowest-energy structures reported for AgH, ranked by energy above hull.

Space GroupCrystal SystemBand Gap (eV)E above hull (eV/atom)E/atom (eV)Density (g/cm³)
P63mc (No. 186)hexagonal0.850.1209-12.2857.76
——0.990.20710.207—
——0.900.20850.209—
P63mc (No. 186)hexagonal0.800.24010.239—
F-43m (No. 216)cubic0.870.24110.240—
F-43m (No. 216)cubic0.810.24140.241—
P-6m2 (No. 187)hexagonal0.000.32510.324—
——0.310.36180.362—
——0.210.36240.362—
——0.000.42470.425—
——0.000.62540.625—
——0.000.77940.779—
Uses

Applications

Where Silver hydride is used.

High-pressure physics researchTheoretical materials modelingFundamental chemical bonding studies
Reference

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Silver hydride, answered from cross-validated data.

What is AgH?

Silver hydride is a metastable, semiconducting compound formed from silver and hydrogen that is primarily studied for its structural properties under high-pressure conditions.

More questions
What is AgH used for?
Silver hydride (AgH) is used in high-pressure physics research, theoretical materials modeling, and fundamental chemical bonding studies.
What is the band gap of AgH?
Silver hydride (AgH) has a DFT-computed band gap of 0.21–0.99 eV across 21 reported structures. Standard DFT underestimates band gaps, so the measured gap is typically larger.
Is AgH a metal, semiconductor, or insulator?
DFT predicts a band gap of up to 0.99 eV (a semiconductor). Measured gaps are typically larger.
Is AgH thermodynamically stable?
Silver hydride (AgH) has a lowest energy above hull of 0.121 eV/atom (unstable).
What is the crystal structure of AgH?
The reference structure of Silver hydride (AgH) is hexagonal symmetry, space group P63mc (No. 186).
What is the density of AgH?
The computed density of the ground-state structure of Silver hydride (AgH) is 7.76 g/cm³.
How many polymorphs of AgH are known?
21 structures of AgH are reported across 4 databases, spanning 6 distinct space groups.
What elements does AgH contain?
Silver hydride (AgH) contains Ag and H (2 elements).
Where does the data for AgH come from?
AgH data is cross-referenced from materials_project, oqmd, jarvis, mpaloe.
Comparison

How It Compares

As a metastable binary hydride, silver hydride occupies a unique position in materials science where its synthesis often requires extreme conditions. Unlike more stable, naturally occurring metal hydrides, this compound serves as a critical model for investigating the limits of chemical bonding in silver-based systems.

Data sources & attribution
  • materials_project — Data from the Materials Project (materialsproject.org). Cite: Jain et al., APL Materials 1, 011002 (2013). (CC-BY-4.0)
  • oqmd — Data from the OQMD (oqmd.org). Cite: Saal et al., JOM 65, 1501 (2013); Kirklin et al., npj Comp. Mater. 1, 15010 (2015). (CC-BY-4.0)
  • jarvis — Data from JARVIS (jarvis.nist.gov), NIST. Cite: Choudhary et al., npj Comp. Mater. 6, 173 (2020). (LicenseRef-US-Gov-PD)
  • mpaloe — Data from MP-ALOE. Cite: Kuner et al., npj Comput. Mater. (2025), doi:10.1038/s41524-025-01834-9.

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