H4C2O
H4C2O is a wide-gap insulating compound consisting of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen that exhibits a variety of metastable structural forms.
About H4C2O
H4C2O is an insulating compound composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. It exhibits a wide electronic band gap, characteristic of materials that do not readily conduct electricity under standard conditions.
Despite its simple elemental composition, this compound shows significant structural complexity with numerous reported configurations. Its position above the thermodynamic hull suggests it is a metastable species that requires specific conditions for synthesis or stabilization.
Key Properties
Cross-validated computational properties for H4C2O, aggregated across 3 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 H4C2O, 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. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I41/a (No. 88) | tetragonal | 5.43 | 0.1890 | -5.734 | 1.10 |
| P1 (No. 1) | triclinic | 4.88 | 0.2398 | -5.683 | 1.11 |
| No. 0 | unknown | — | — | — | 0.58 |
| No. 0 | unknown | — | — | — | 0.34 |
| No. 0 | unknown | — | — | — | 0.16 |
| No. 0 | unknown | — | — | — | 0.29 |
| No. 0 | unknown | — | — | — | 0.30 |
| No. 0 | unknown | — | — | — | 0.35 |
| No. 0 | unknown | — | — | — | 0.01 |
| No. 0 | unknown | — | — | — | 0.66 |
| P-1 (No. 2) | — | — | — | — | — |
| No. 0 | unknown | — | — | — | 0.63 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about H4C2O, answered from cross-validated data.
What is H4C2O?
H4C2O is a wide-gap insulating compound consisting of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen that exhibits a variety of metastable structural forms.
What is the band gap of H4C2O?
Is H4C2O a metal, semiconductor, or insulator?
Is H4C2O thermodynamically stable?
What is the crystal structure of H4C2O?
What is the density of H4C2O?
How many polymorphs of H4C2O are known?
What elements does H4C2O contain?
Where does the data for H4C2O come from?
How It Compares
As a unique entry in this database, H4C2O represents a specific stoichiometric arrangement of light elements that serves as a case study for metastable organic-based structures. Unlike more common, highly stable oxides, this material highlights the challenges and possibilities of synthesizing complex carbon-hydrogen-oxygen phases that exist outside the ground-state equilibrium.
Data sources & attribution
- materials_project — Data from the Materials Project. Cite: Jain et al., APL Materials 1, 011002 (2013).
- cod — Data from the Crystallography Open Database. Cite: Grazulis et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 40, D420 (2012).
- jarvis — Data from JARVIS (NIST). Cite: Choudhary et al., npj Comp. Mater. 6, 173 (2020).
Analyze H4C2O in the Lattice Graph platform
Polymorph comparison, confidence scoring, supply-chain risk, and patent monitoring — across 53 integrated data sources.
Explore the Platform →