CuH

Copper hydride · Cuprous hydride

Copper hydride is a metastable semiconducting material primarily used as a selective reducing agent in synthetic chemistry.

CuH
Crystal structure of CuH (trigonal, P-3m1 (No. 164))
Ground-state structure · Materials Project
Overview

About Copper hydride

Copper hydride is a metastable inorganic compound that serves as a specialized reagent in organic synthesis. Its semiconducting nature and distinct bonding characteristics make it a subject of significant interest in fundamental materials science and coordination chemistry.

Due to its metastable state, this compound requires careful handling and specific conditions for synthesis and storage. It is frequently utilized in laboratory settings for selective reduction reactions, leveraging the reactivity of the copper-hydrogen bond to facilitate complex chemical transformations.

At a glance

Key Properties

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

Band Gap

0.57 eV
Range across DFT structures

Energy Above Hull

0.098 eV/atom
Best (lowest) across sources

Stability

Metastable
3 DFT sources

Structures

90
5 databases, 19 space groups
Validation

Cross-Source DFT Agreement

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

Agreement Score

1.00 / 1.00
Trust tier: high

Hull Spread

0.000 eV
EAH spread across sources

Sources Compared

3
jarvis, materials_project, nomad

Space Group Consensus

All match
Crystallography

Reported Structures

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

Space GroupCrystal SystemBand Gap (eV)E above hull (eV/atom)E/atom (eV)Density (g/cm³)
P-3m1 (No. 164)trigonal0.000.0982-7.0536.55
P63mc (No. 186)hexagonal0.570.1152-7.0366.81
P21/c (No. 14)Monoclinic5.01
F-43m (No. 216)
P-1 (No. 2)Triclinic4.80
P21/m (No. 11)Monoclinic4.08
P-1 (No. 2)Triclinic6.59
P21/m (No. 11)Monoclinic5.31
P-1 (No. 2)Triclinic7.07
P-1 (No. 2)Triclinic5.76
P-1 (No. 2)Triclinic6.29
P21/c (No. 14)Monoclinic6.51
Uses

Applications

Where Copper hydride is used.

Organic synthesisSelective reduction reactionsCatalysis research
Reference

Frequently Asked Questions

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

What is CuH?

Copper hydride is a metastable semiconducting material primarily used as a selective reducing agent in synthetic chemistry.

More questions
What is CuH used for?
Copper hydride (CuH) is used in organic synthesis, selective reduction reactions, and catalysis research.
What is the band gap of CuH?
Copper hydride (CuH) has a DFT-computed band gap of 0.57 eV across 90 reported structures.
Is CuH a metal, semiconductor, or insulator?
With a band gap up to 0.57 eV it is a semiconductor.
Is CuH thermodynamically stable?
Copper hydride (CuH) has a lowest energy above hull of 0.098 eV/atom (metastable).
What is the crystal structure of CuH?
The lowest-energy reported polymorph of Copper hydride (CuH) is trigonal symmetry, space group P-3m1 (No. 164).
What is the density of CuH?
The computed density of the ground-state structure of Copper hydride (CuH) is 6.55 g/cm³.
How many polymorphs of CuH are known?
90 structures of CuH are reported across 5 databases, spanning 19 distinct space groups.
What elements does CuH contain?
Copper hydride (CuH) contains Cu and H (2 elements).
Where does the data for CuH come from?
CuH data is cross-referenced from materials_project, mpaloe, nomad, cod.
Comparison

How It Compares

As a specialized hydride, this compound occupies a unique niche in inorganic chemistry, distinct from more common binary hydrides due to its specific electronic character and the relative instability of the copper-hydrogen interaction.

Data sources & attribution
  • materials_project — Data from the Materials Project. Cite: Jain et al., APL Materials 1, 011002 (2013).
  • mpaloe — Data from mpaloe.
  • nomad — Data from NOMAD. Cite: Draxl & Scheffler, J. Phys. Mater. 2, 036001 (2019).
  • cod — Data from the Crystallography Open Database. Cite: Grazulis et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 40, D420 (2012).

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