School of Physics and Astronomy and Centre for Science at Extreme Conditions, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, United Kingdom and Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.
Phys Rev Lett. 2013 Sep 13;111(11):116404. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.116404. Epub 2013 Sep 12.
The condensed matter properties of the nominal terminating element of the halogen group with atomic number 85, astatine, are as yet unknown. In the intervening more than 70 years since its discovery significant advances have been made in substrate cooling and the other techniques necessary for the production of the element to the point where we might now enquire about the key properties astatine might have if it attained a condensed phase. This subject is addressed here using density functional theory and structural selection methods, with an accounting for relativistic physics that is essential. Condensed astatine is predicted to be quite different in fascinating ways from iodine, being already at 1 atm a metal, and monatomic at that, and possibly a superconductor (as is dense iodine).
原子序数为 85 的卤族元素的末端元素砹的凝聚态性质尚不清楚。自发现以来的 70 多年间，衬底冷却和生产该元素所需的其他技术取得了重大进展，现在我们可能会询问如果砹达到凝聚相，它可能具有的关键性质。本文使用密度泛函理论和结构选择方法来解决这个问题，其中考虑了相对论物理是必不可少的。预测凝聚态砹在许多方面与碘非常不同，在 1 个大气压下它已经是一种金属，而且是单原子的，并且可能是超导体（如浓碘）。
