Clathrate Ba8Au16P30: the "gold standard" for lattice thermal conductivity

A novel clathrate phase, Ba8Au16P30, was synthesized from its elements. High-resolution powder X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy were used to establish the crystal structure of the new compound. Ba8Au16P30 crystallizes in an orthorhombic superstructure of clathrate-I featuring a complete separation of gold and phosphorus atoms over different crystallographic positions, similar to the Cu-containing analogue, Ba8Cu16P30. Barium cations are trapped inside the large polyhedral cages of the gold-phosphorus tetrahedral framework. X-ray diffraction indicated that one out of 15 crystallographically independent phosphorus atoms appears to be three-coordinate. Probing the local structure and chemical bonding of phosphorus atoms with (31)P solid-state NMR spectroscopy confirmed the three-coordinate nature of one of the phosphorus atomic positions. High-resolution high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy indicated that the clathrate Ba8Au16P30 is well-ordered on the atomic scale, although numerous twinning and intergrowth defects as well as antiphase boundaries were detected. The presence of such defects results in the pseudo-body-centered-cubic diffraction patterns observed in single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments. NMR and resistivity characterization of Ba8Au16P30 indicated paramagnetic metallic properties with a room-temperature resistivity of 1.7 mΩ cm. Ba8Au16P30 exhibits a low total thermal conductivity (0.62 W m(-1) K(-1)) and an unprecedentedly low lattice thermal conductivity (0.18 W m(-1) K(-1)) at room temperature. The values of the thermal conductivity for Ba8Au16P30 are significantly lower than the typical values reported for solid crystalline compounds. We attribute such low thermal conductivity values to the presence of a large number of heavy atoms (Au) in the framework and the formation of multiple twinning interfaces and antiphase defects, which are effective scatterers of heat-carrying phonons.