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Will solid hydrogen ever be a metal?

Nature volume 388, pages 621–622 (1997)Cite this article

At ultra-high pressures, liquid hydrogen becomes metallic. So should solid hydrogen, yet it stubbornly resists. A newly predicted spontaneous asymmetry of molecules in the solid may be the reason.

In 1926 J. D. Bernal proposed that all matter, when subjected to a high enough pressure, will inevitably become metallic — that is, it will be permeated by a sea of completely free electrons that conduct electricity easily. The most enticing substance for pressure-induced metallization is, in fact, the lightest and supposedly the simplest of all the elements in the periodic table — hydrogen. Wigner and Huntington in 1935 first predicted that molecular diatomic hydrogen would undergo a transition to a metallic state at an imposed pressure of about 250,000 atmospheres1; current predictions are in a range close to three million atmospheres. But despite an unrelenting experimental assault at these ultra-high pressures, dense solid hydrogen has so far defied all attempts at metallization2. On page 652 of this issue3, Edwards and Ashcroft describe a new twist to the continuing saga, which may help explain the recalcitrance of solid hydrogen towards metallization.

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Figure 1: Bands under pressure.
Figure 2: A possible phase diagram for dense hydrogen.
Figure 3: The newly predicted ground state of molecular hydrogen at ultra-high pressure3.

References

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  3. Edwards, B. & Ashcroft, N. W. Nature 388, 652–655 (1997).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, B15 2TT, Birmingham, UK

    Peter P. Edwards

  2. Fachbereich Chemie, Philipps-Universität Marburg, D-35032, Marburg, Germany

    Friedrich Hensel

Authors
  1. Peter P. Edwards
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  2. Friedrich Hensel
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Edwards, P., Hensel, F. Will solid hydrogen ever be a metal?. Nature 388, 621–622 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/41645

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