Kaner Group Research



Superhard Materials



Ten years ago, we (along with Professor Sarah Tolbert and her research group) suggested that new superhard materials could be compositionally designed by incorporating covalent bonding into high valence electron density metals. The covalent bonds prevent shear and the electron density adds incompressibility. Transition metal borides exemplify these parameters by providing high valence electron density, multiple boron-boron covalent bonds, and unique crystallographic structures. This idea was first demonstrated with osmium diboride (incompressible), and then with rhenium diboride and tungsten tetraboride (both of which are superhard and incompressible). The Kaner group now seeks to refine and expand on these materials by focusing on structure and bonding motifs. The superhard design toolkit can be enlarged by studying the mechanical properties of new tungsten tetraboride solid-solutions, increasing electron density through doping, and by examining the lower borides of tungsten, which complement the 3-D boron network of tungsten tetraboride by containing 0-D, 1-D, and 2-D boron structures. This family of compounds serves as a model system for understanding how the nature of B-B and B-metal bonds affect hardness. The eventual goal is the development of a third design parameter to explicitly elucidate the structures and bonding motifs that should most improve macroscopic mechanical properties based on microscopic bonding