Cu3Si
Copper silicide · Cu3Si
Cu3Si is a metastable, metallic copper-silicon intermetallic compound investigated for its potential utility in electrochemical energy storage.
About Copper silicide
Copper silicide is a metallic intermetallic compound characterized by its metastable nature. As a member of the silicon-based materials family, it represents a distinct structural phase that researchers investigate to understand the complex interactions between copper and silicon in solid-state systems.
Its metallic electronic character distinguishes it from many semiconductor-based silicides, making it a subject of interest in materials science for its unique phase stability and structural versatility. With numerous reported structures across multiple databases, it remains a heavily examined candidate for understanding phase transformations in high-performance electrode applications.
Key Properties
Cross-validated computational properties for Copper silicide, aggregated across 5 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.
Reported Structures
Lowest-energy structures reported for Cu3Si, 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. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P63/mmc (No. 194) | hexagonal | 0.00 | 0.0268 | -10.375 | 7.81 |
| I4/mmm (No. 139) | tetragonal | 0.00 | 0.0342 | -10.367 | 7.84 |
| Pmmn (No. 59) | — | — | — | — | — |
| I4/mmm (No. 139) | — | — | — | — | — |
| P63/mmc (No. 194) | Hexagonal | — | — | — | 7.94 |
| I4/mmm (No. 139) | Tetragonal | — | — | — | 7.59 |
| P63/mmc (No. 194) | Hexagonal | — | — | — | 7.58 |
| P63/mmc (No. 194) | Hexagonal | — | — | — | 7.80 |
| I4/mmm (No. 139) | Tetragonal | — | — | — | 8.00 |
| I4/mmm (No. 139) | Tetragonal | — | — | — | 7.86 |
| — | — | — | — | — | 7.37 |
Applications
Where Copper silicide is used.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Copper silicide, answered from cross-validated data.
What is Cu3Si?
Cu3Si is a metastable, metallic copper-silicon intermetallic compound investigated for its potential utility in electrochemical energy storage.
What is Cu3Si used for?
What is the band gap of Cu3Si?
Is Cu3Si a metal, semiconductor, or insulator?
Is Cu3Si thermodynamically stable?
What is the crystal structure of Cu3Si?
What is the density of Cu3Si?
How many polymorphs of Cu3Si are known?
What elements does Cu3Si contain?
Where does the data for Cu3Si come from?
How It Compares
Within the silicon anode materials class.
Unlike the semiconducting or insulating silicides in its class, such as the widely used elemental silicon or the stable silicide Mg2Si, Cu3Si exhibits a distinct metallic nature. While materials like MoSi2 are often prized for their high-temperature structural integrity, Cu3Si is primarily explored for its metastable behavior, which provides a different pathway for managing volume expansion and charge transport compared to the more conventional silicides like FeSi or BaSi2.
Related Compounds
Other Silicon Anode Materials in the database.
Data sources & attribution
- materials_project — Data from the Materials Project. Cite: Jain et al., APL Materials 1, 011002 (2013).
- nomad — Data from NOMAD. Cite: Draxl & Scheffler, J. Phys. Mater. 2, 036001 (2019).
- jarvis — Data from JARVIS (NIST). Cite: Choudhary et al., npj Comp. Mater. 6, 173 (2020).
- mpaloe — Data from mpaloe.
- omat24 — Data from OMat24 (Meta FAIR). Cite: Barroso-Luque et al., arXiv 2410.12771 (2024).
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