HeSiO2

HeSiO2 is a metastable, insulating compound containing helium, silicon, and oxygen that serves as a subject of interest in high-pressure materials research.

HeOSi
Crystal structure of HeSiO2 (trigonal, R-3c (No. 167))
Ground-state structure · Materials Project
Overview

About HeSiO2

HeSiO2 is a metastable compound composed of helium, silicon, and oxygen. As a wide-gap insulator, it represents an unusual combination of noble gas chemistry and silicate frameworks, highlighting the complex interactions possible under extreme conditions.

This material is of significant interest to researchers studying high-pressure phases and the incorporation of inert gases into solid-state lattices. Its existence as a metastable phase provides valuable insights into the thermodynamic limits of noble gas compounds.

At a glance

Key Properties

Cross-validated computational properties for HeSiO2, aggregated across 3 databases.

Band Gap

6.49–6.55 eV
Range across DFT structures

Energy Above Hull

0.026 eV/atom
Best (lowest) across sources

Stability

Metastable
1 DFT source

Structures

7
3 databases, 3 space groups
Crystallography

Reported Structures

Lowest-energy structures reported for HeSiO2, ranked by energy above hull.

Space GroupCrystal SystemBand Gap (eV)E above hull (eV/atom)E/atom (eV)Density (g/cm³)
R-3c (No. 167)trigonal6.550.0263-6.2612.11
P21/c (No. 14)monoclinic6.490.0296-6.2582.11
P21/c (No. 14)
R-3c (No. 167)
No. 0unknown0.67
No. 0unknown0.58
R-3c (No. 167)
Reference

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about HeSiO2, answered from cross-validated data.

What is HeSiO2?

HeSiO2 is a metastable, insulating compound containing helium, silicon, and oxygen that serves as a subject of interest in high-pressure materials research.

More questions
What is the band gap of HeSiO2?
HeSiO2 has a DFT-computed band gap of 6.49–6.55 eV across 7 reported structures.
Is HeSiO2 a metal, semiconductor, or insulator?
With a wide band gap up to 6.55 eV it is an insulator / wide-band-gap material.
Is HeSiO2 thermodynamically stable?
HeSiO2 has a lowest energy above hull of 0.026 eV/atom (metastable).
What is the crystal structure of HeSiO2?
The lowest-energy reported polymorph of HeSiO2 is trigonal symmetry, space group R-3c (No. 167).
What is the density of HeSiO2?
The computed density of the ground-state structure of HeSiO2 is 2.11 g/cm³.
How many polymorphs of HeSiO2 are known?
7 structures of HeSiO2 are reported across 3 databases, spanning 3 distinct space groups.
What elements does HeSiO2 contain?
HeSiO2 contains He, O, and Si (3 elements).
Where does the data for HeSiO2 come from?
HeSiO2 data is cross-referenced from materials_project, jarvis, cod.
Comparison

How It Compares

As a unique inclusion compound, HeSiO2 stands apart from conventional silicate minerals due to the integration of helium into its structural framework, representing a specialized area of study within high-pressure materials science.

Data sources & attribution
  • materials_project — Data from the Materials Project. Cite: Jain et al., APL Materials 1, 011002 (2013).
  • jarvis — Data from JARVIS (NIST). Cite: Choudhary et al., npj Comp. Mater. 6, 173 (2020).
  • cod — Data from the Crystallography Open Database. Cite: Grazulis et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 40, D420 (2012).

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