Pb
Lead · Plumbum
Lead is a dense, stable, and highly malleable post-transition metal that has been utilized in diverse industrial and technological applications throughout history.
About Lead
Lead is a heavy, post-transition metal known for its distinctive metallic character and exceptional thermodynamic stability. As a fundamental element, it occupies a unique position in materials science due to its high density and malleability, which have made it a cornerstone of human technology for millennia.
Its chemical resilience and ease of processing allow it to be used in a wide range of demanding environments. With extensive structural data available, lead remains one of the most thoroughly characterized elements, serving as a benchmark for understanding metallic bonding and phase behavior in elemental solids.
Key Properties
Cross-validated computational properties for Lead, 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 Pb. 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 Pb, 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. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 0.00 | 0.0000 | 0.000 | — |
| Fm-3m (No. 225) | cubic | 0.00 | 0.0000 | 0.000 | — |
| P63/mmc (No. 194) | hexagonal | 0.00 | 0.0000 | 0.016 | — |
| P63/mmc (No. 194) | hexagonal | 0.00 | 0.0000 | 0.010 | — |
| Fm-3m (No. 225) | cubic | 0.00 | 0.0000 | 0.000 | — |
| Fd-3m (No. 227) | cubic | 0.00 | 0.0000 | 0.281 | — |
| Im-3m (No. 229) | cubic | 0.00 | 0.0000 | 0.043 | — |
| P63/mmc (No. 194) | hexagonal | 0.00 | 0.0000 | 0.016 | — |
| Fm-3m (No. 225) | cubic | 0.00 | 0.0000 | -56.285 | 11.08 |
| R-3m (No. 166) | trigonal | 0.00 | 0.0000 | 0.066 | — |
| — | — | 0.00 | 0.0018 | 0.002 | — |
| — | — | 0.00 | 0.0026 | 0.003 | — |
Applications
Where Lead is used.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Lead, answered from cross-validated data.
What is Pb?
Lead is a dense, stable, and highly malleable post-transition metal that has been utilized in diverse industrial and technological applications throughout history.
What is Pb used for?
What is the band gap of Pb?
Is Pb a metal, semiconductor, or insulator?
Is Pb thermodynamically stable?
What is the crystal structure of Pb?
How many polymorphs of Pb are known?
What elements does Pb contain?
Where does the data for Pb come from?
How It Compares
As a pure elemental metal, lead stands as a foundational material that defines the standard for heavy, soft metallic elements in the periodic table, offering structural stability that few other materials can match in its category.
Data sources & attribution
- 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)
- 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)
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