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Boron carbide is a crystalline compound of boron and carbon. It is a very hard synthetic material that has many applications, including abrasive and wear-resistant products, lightweight composite materials, and control rods for nuclear power generation.
The structure of boron carbide is based on a complex crystal lattice. It contains a mixture of B12 icosahedra around a C-B-C chain and three neighboring B6 octahedra. The icosahedra bind to each other through the carbon atoms that act as bridges.
It also has a network plane formed by the octahedra, which runs parallel to the C-plane. The octahedra are very small in size, which makes them difficult to bind to the neighboring B12 icosahedra. This leads to a weakening of the c-plane bonding and therefore, a higher fracture toughness.
A recent study has shown that boron carbide exhibits similar reduction upon compression as other covalently bonded solids. This discovery has closed a long-standing scientific dispute.
These results have revealed that the presence of unpaired electrons in a 3e3c C-BC-C bond is a key factor determining boron carbide’s nonmetallic electrical character. Moreover, it has been determined that the concentration of these electrons is a function of the chemical composition and degree of order.
Boron carbide is a semiconductor with hopping-type transport dominating its electronic properties. It has a band gap of 2.09 eV, and the photoluminescence spectrum is complicated by several mid-bandgap states. This makes it a promising candidate for high-efficiency silicon-based solar cells.