BeO
Beryllium oxide · beryllia
Beryllium oxide is a specialized ceramic material known for its ability to conduct heat while remaining an effective electrical insulator.
About Beryllium oxide
Beryllium oxide is a highly stable inorganic compound that stands out for its unique combination of electrical insulation and high thermal conductivity. Its wide-band-gap nature makes it an ideal dielectric material for demanding environments where heat dissipation is critical. With a vast array of documented structural data, this compound is recognized as a robust and well-characterized material. It serves as a foundational component in specialized electronics and high-performance ceramic applications where reliability and thermal management are paramount.
Key Properties
Cross-validated computational properties for Beryllium oxide, aggregated across 6 databases.
Band GapEnergy needed to move an electron from the valence band to the conduction band. Lower or zero values tend to behave more metallic; larger gaps are more insulating or semiconducting.
Energy Above HullThermodynamic distance from the most stable set of competing phases. 0 eV/atom is on the convex hull; small positive values may still be experimentally accessible.
StabilityA plain-language summary of the best reported energy-above-hull result. It reflects whether the lowest-energy structure is on, near, or far from the stability hull.
StructuresCount of reported calculated crystal structures for this formula, including alternate polymorphs, source databases, and observed space groups.
Cross-Source DFT Agreement
How well independent DFT databases agree on the thermodynamics of BeO. Tight agreement means computed properties can be trusted without re-running calculations.
Agreement ScoreA normalized confidence score summarizing how closely independent DFT databases agree. Higher scores mean tighter cross-source agreement.
Hull SpreadDifference between the highest and lowest energy-above-hull values reported by comparable sources. Smaller spread means less thermodynamic disagreement.
Sources ComparedNumber and names of computational sources with comparable entries for this formula.
Space Group ConsensusWhether independent sources predict the same crystal symmetry for the lowest-energy structure.
Reported Structures
Lowest-energy structures reported for BeO, ranked by energy above hull.
| Space GroupSymmetry classification of the crystal arrangement. The number is the international space-group index. | Crystal SystemBroad lattice family, such as cubic, tetragonal, monoclinic, or triclinic, derived from unit-cell symmetry. | Band Gap (eV)Electronic gap calculated for this specific reported structure, measured in electronvolts. | E above hull (eV/atom)Thermodynamic distance from the convex hull for this structure, normalized per atom. Lower is generally more stable. | E/atom (eV)Computed total energy normalized per atom. Use energy above hull, not this value alone, when comparing stability. | Density (g/cm³)Mass per relaxed crystal volume, reported in grams per cubic centimeter. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P63mc (No. 186) | hexagonal | 8.04 | 0.0000 | -3.031 | — |
| — | — | 7.92 | 0.0000 | -2.966 | — |
| P63mc (No. 186) | hexagonal | 7.46 | 0.0000 | -7.447 | 3.02 |
| — | — | 7.02 | 0.0058 | -2.960 | — |
| F-43m (No. 216) | cubic | 7.29 | 0.0060 | -3.025 | — |
| — | — | 6.95 | 0.0068 | -2.959 | — |
| F-43m (No. 216) | cubic | 6.85 | 0.0070 | -7.440 | 3.03 |
| P42/mnm (No. 136) | tetragonal | 7.08 | 0.0153 | -7.431 | 2.91 |
| — | — | 7.51 | 0.0158 | -2.950 | — |
| P42/mnm (No. 136) | tetragonal | 7.61 | 0.0171 | -3.014 | — |
| P1 (No. 1) | triclinic | 4.48 | 0.2574 | -7.189 | 2.59 |
| P1 (No. 1) | triclinic | 4.45 | 0.2643 | -7.182 | 2.51 |
Applications
Where Beryllium oxide is used.
Patent Landscape
1 patent reference BeO or close compositional variants.
| Patent | Title | Assignee | Granted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12247151 | Doped BeO compounds for optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and thermoluminescence (TL) radiation dosimetr | — | — |
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Beryllium oxide, answered from cross-validated data.
What is BeO?
Beryllium oxide is a specialized ceramic material known for its ability to conduct heat while remaining an effective electrical insulator.
What is BeO used for?
What is the band gap of BeO?
Is BeO a metal, semiconductor, or insulator?
Is BeO thermodynamically stable?
What is the crystal structure of BeO?
How many polymorphs of BeO are known?
What elements does BeO contain?
Where does the data for BeO come from?
How It Compares
As a thermodynamically stable material, beryllium oxide occupies a distinct position in the landscape of oxide ceramics, serving as a benchmark for high-performance dielectric applications where standard insulators might fail due to thermal stress.
Data sources & attribution
- jarvis — Data from JARVIS (jarvis.nist.gov), NIST. Cite: Choudhary et al., npj Comp. Mater. 6, 173 (2020). (LicenseRef-US-Gov-PD)
- 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)
- materials_project — Data from the Materials Project (materialsproject.org). Cite: Jain et al., APL Materials 1, 011002 (2013). (CC-BY-4.0)
- mpaloe — Data from MP-ALOE. Cite: Kuner et al., npj Comput. Mater. (2025), doi:10.1038/s41524-025-01834-9.
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