In
Indium · metallic indium
Indium is a soft, silvery-white metallic element widely used for its excellent bonding and coating properties in electronic devices.
About Indium
Indium is a post-transition metal characterized by its soft, malleable nature and distinct metallic electronic structure. As a thermodynamically stable solid, it maintains a robust crystalline arrangement that makes it a reliable component in various industrial processes. Its unique ability to wet glass and form alloys with other metals allows it to serve as a critical interface material in modern manufacturing. Because it is a highly stable element, it is frequently utilized in thin-film coatings and specialized solders where consistent performance is required. Its widespread study across multiple databases underscores its importance as a foundational material in materials science and engineering.
Key Properties
Cross-validated computational properties for Indium, aggregated across 6 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.
Cross-Source DFT Agreement
How well independent DFT databases agree on the thermodynamics of In. Tight agreement means computed properties can be trusted without re-running calculations.
Agreement ScoreA normalized confidence score summarizing how closely independent DFT databases agree. Higher scores mean tighter cross-source agreement.
Hull SpreadDifference between the highest and lowest energy-above-hull values reported by comparable sources. Smaller spread means less thermodynamic disagreement.
Sources ComparedNumber and names of computational sources with comparable entries for this formula.
Space Group ConsensusWhether independent sources predict the same crystal symmetry for the lowest-energy structure.
Reported Structures
Lowest-energy structures reported for In, 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. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I4/mmm (No. 139) | tetragonal | 0.00 | 0.0000 | -0.000 | — |
| Fm-3m (No. 225) | cubic | 0.00 | 0.0000 | -22.579 | 7.22 |
| — | — | 0.00 | 0.0000 | 0.000 | — |
| I4/mmm (No. 139) | tetragonal | 0.00 | 0.0000 | 0.000 | — |
| R-3m (No. 166) | trigonal | 0.00 | 0.0000 | -0.002 | — |
| P63/mmc (No. 194) | hexagonal | 0.00 | 0.0000 | -0.005 | — |
| I4/mmm (No. 139) | tetragonal | 0.00 | 0.0000 | 0.000 | — |
| P63/mmc (No. 194) | hexagonal | 0.00 | 0.0000 | 0.004 | — |
| Im-3m (No. 229) | cubic | 0.00 | 0.0000 | 0.000 | — |
| — | — | 0.00 | 0.0000 | 0.000 | — |
| — | — | 0.00 | 0.0003 | 0.000 | — |
| — | — | 0.00 | 0.0012 | 0.001 | — |
Applications
Where Indium is used.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Indium, answered from cross-validated data.
What is In?
Indium is a soft, silvery-white metallic element widely used for its excellent bonding and coating properties in electronic devices.
What is In used for?
What is the band gap of In?
Is In a metal, semiconductor, or insulator?
Is In thermodynamically stable?
What is the crystal structure of In?
How many polymorphs of In are known?
What elements does In contain?
Where does the data for In come from?
How It Compares
As a pure elemental metal, indium stands as a primary reference point for its class, offering a unique combination of extreme softness and low-temperature phase behavior that distinguishes it from harder, more brittle transition metals.
Data sources & attribution
- jarvis — Data from JARVIS (jarvis.nist.gov), NIST. Cite: Choudhary et al., npj Comp. Mater. 6, 173 (2020). (LicenseRef-US-Gov-PD)
- materials_project — Data from the Materials Project (materialsproject.org). Cite: Jain et al., APL Materials 1, 011002 (2013). (CC-BY-4.0)
- oqmd — Data from the OQMD (oqmd.org). Cite: Saal et al., JOM 65, 1501 (2013); Kirklin et al., npj Comp. Mater. 1, 15010 (2015). (CC-BY-4.0)
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