CF

CF is a metastable, wide-band-gap insulating material composed of carbon and fluorine.

CF
Crystal structure of CF (hexagonal, P63/m (No. 176))
Ground-state structure · Materials Project
Overview

About CF

CF is an insulating material composed of carbon and fluorine. Its electronic character is defined by a wide band gap, placing it firmly within the category of electrical insulators. Due to its unique atomic arrangement, it remains a subject of interest in fundamental materials research.

While it exists in numerous reported structural configurations across various databases, it is characterized as being above the thermodynamic hull. This suggests that the compound is inherently metastable, requiring specific synthesis conditions to stabilize its structure compared to more common carbon-fluorine phases.

At a glance

Key Properties

Cross-validated computational properties for CF, aggregated across 5 databases.

Band Gap

3.21–4.47 eV
Range across DFT structures

Energy Above Hull

0.307 eV/atom
Best (lowest) across sources

Stability

Above hull
3 DFT sources

Structures

46
5 databases, 11 space groups
Validation

Cross-Source DFT Agreement

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

Agreement Score

1.00 / 1.00
Trust tier: medium

Hull Spread

0.000 eV
EAH spread across sources

Sources Compared

2
jarvis, materials_project

Space Group Consensus

All match
Crystallography

Reported Structures

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

Space GroupCrystal SystemBand Gap (eV)E above hull (eV/atom)E/atom (eV)Density (g/cm³)
P63/m (No. 176)hexagonal4.470.3075-7.4192.09
P21/c (No. 14)monoclinic3.210.3881-7.3391.95
Pbam (No. 55)Orthorhombic2.54
Cm (No. 8)Monoclinic3.89
C2/m (No. 12)Monoclinic3.19
P1 (No. 1)Triclinic2.27
P21/m (No. 11)Monoclinic3.82
P-1 (No. 2)Triclinic2.61
P-1 (No. 2)Triclinic2.82
C2/m (No. 12)Monoclinic3.78
C2/m (No. 12)Monoclinic2.78
C2/m (No. 12)Monoclinic3.03
Uses

Applications

Where CF is used.

Fundamental materials science researchExploratory studies in carbon-fluorine bonding
Reference

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about CF, answered from cross-validated data.

What is CF?

CF is a metastable, wide-band-gap insulating material composed of carbon and fluorine.

More questions
What is CF used for?
CF is used in fundamental materials science research and exploratory studies in carbon-fluorine bonding.
What is the band gap of CF?
CF has a DFT-computed band gap of 3.21–4.47 eV across 46 reported structures.
Is CF a metal, semiconductor, or insulator?
With a wide band gap up to 4.47 eV it is an insulator / wide-band-gap material.
Is CF thermodynamically stable?
CF has a lowest energy above hull of 0.307 eV/atom (above hull).
What is the crystal structure of CF?
The lowest-energy reported polymorph of CF is hexagonal symmetry, space group P63/m (No. 176).
What is the density of CF?
The computed density of the ground-state structure of CF is 2.09 g/cm³.
How many polymorphs of CF are known?
46 structures of CF are reported across 5 databases, spanning 11 distinct space groups.
What elements does CF contain?
CF contains C and F (2 elements).
Where does the data for CF come from?
CF data is cross-referenced from materials_project, mpaloe, omat24, jarvis.
Comparison

How It Compares

As a metastable phase within the broader landscape of carbon-fluoride materials, CF represents a complex structural challenge. Unlike more thermodynamically stable fluorinated carbon derivatives, this compound exists in a high-energy state that highlights the diverse bonding possibilities between carbon and fluorine atoms.

Data sources & attribution
  • materials_project — Data from the Materials Project. Cite: Jain et al., APL Materials 1, 011002 (2013).
  • mpaloe — Data from mpaloe.
  • omat24 — Data from OMat24 (Meta FAIR). Cite: Barroso-Luque et al., arXiv 2410.12771 (2024).
  • jarvis — Data from JARVIS (NIST). Cite: Choudhary et al., npj Comp. Mater. 6, 173 (2020).

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