High-energy nitrogen rings stabilized by superatom properties

TL;DR

This study reveals that nitrogen-rich high-energy molecules can be stabilized through superatomic properties, with potential pathways involving metal atom stabilization, advancing energy storage material design.

Contribution

First theoretical demonstration that nitrogen ring stabilization is governed by superatomic electronic structures, proposing new stabilization pathways with metal atom incorporation.

Findings

Identified stable anionic nitrogen rings with superatomic electronic configurations

Proposed metal atom doping as a method to stabilize nitrogen rings

Highlighted superatoms' role in designing nitrogen-rich energetic materials

Abstract

How to stabilize nitrogen-rich high-energy-density molecules under conventional conditions is particularly important for the energy storage and conversion of such systems and has attracted extensive attention. In this work, our theoretical study showed for the first time that the stabilization mechanism of the nitrogen ring conformed to the superatomic properties at the atomic level. This result occurred because the stabilized anionic nitrogen rings generally showed planar high symmetry and the injected electrons occupied the superatomic molecular orbitals (SAMOs) of the nitrogen rings. According to these results, we identified the typical stabilized anionic nitrogen ring structures N64-, N5- and N42-, and their superatomic electronic configurations were 1S21P41D41F22S21P21F21D42P41G41F4, 1S21P41D41P22S21F41D42P4 and 1S21P41D21P21D22S22P41D4, respectively. On this basis, we further designed a pathway to stabilize nitrogen rings by introducing metal atoms as electron donors to form neutral ThN6, LiN5 and MgN4 structures, thereby replacing the anionization of systems. Our study highlights the importance of developing nitrogen-rich energetic materials from the perspective of superatoms.