Hydrogen-rich compounds hold promise as high-temperature superconductors under high pressures. Recent theoretical hydride structures on achieving high-pressure superconductivity are composed mainly of H 2 fragments. Through a systematic investigation of Ca hydrides with different hydrogen contents using particleswam optimization structural search, we show that in the stoichiometry CaH 6 a body-centered cubic structure with hydrogen that forms unusual "sodalite" cages containing enclathrated Ca stabilizes above pressure 150 GPa. The stability of this structure is derived from the acceptance by two H 2 of electrons donated by Ca forming an "H 4 " unit as the building block in the construction of the three-dimensional sodalite cage. This unique structure has a partial occupation of the degenerated orbitals at the zone center. The resultant dynamic Jahn-Teller effect helps to enhance electronphonon coupling and leads to superconductivity of CaH 6 . A superconducting critical temperature (T c ) of 220-235 K at 150 GPa obtained from the solution of the Eliashberg equations is the highest among all hydrides studied thus far.calcium hydride | sodalite structure

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Many methods have been proposed for efficient storage of molecular hydrogen for fuel cell applications. However, despite intense research efforts, the twin U.S. Department of Energy goals of 6.5% mass ratio and 62 kg͞m 3 volume density has not been achieved either experimentally or via theoretical simulations on reversible model systems. Carbon-based materials, such as carbon nanotubes, have always been regarded as the most attractive physisorption substrates for the storage of hydrogen. Theoretical studies on various model graphitic systems, however, failed to reach the elusive goal. Here, we show that insufficiently accurate carbon-H 2 interaction potentials, together with the neglect and incomplete treatment of the quantum effects in previous theoretical investigations, led to misleading conclusions for the absorption capacity. A proper account of the contribution of quantum effects to the free energy and the equilibrium constant for hydrogen adsorption suggest that the U.S. Department of Energy specification can be approached in a graphite-based physisorption system. The theoretical prediction can be realized by optimizing the structures of nano-graphite platelets (graphene), which are lightweight, cheap, chemically inert, and environmentally benign. equilibrium constants ͉ hydrogen storage ͉ quantum effects A recent report on hydrogen clathrate hydrate (1) shows that under high pressure, molecular hydrogen can be trapped in the clathrate cavities reaching a mass ratio close to that defined by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) (2). However, the hydrogen clathrate is only stable under high pressure or at very low temperature. Simple sterical considerations suggest that the use of a ''help gas'' to stabilize the clathrate hydrate under less severe thermodynamic conditions would lead to the deterioration of the hydrogen storage mass ratio and may not be viable for mobile applications. On the other hand, there have also been numerous experimental studies on the binding capacity of molecular hydrogen with graphitic substrates (3, 4). At technologically viable conditions, reliably reproducible results are still far from the DOE goal (3, 4). In the attempt to understand and improve the storage capacity of graphitic materials, calculations have been made on many models. Some of the calculations were based on empirical interaction potentials (5-9), and the others used potentials derived from quantum mechanical calculations (10-16). The role of quantum behavior of molecular hydrogen at low temperatures has also been investigated (6,8,(17)(18)(19). Unfortunately, the binding capacity for hydrogen at near-ambient conditions has not been calculated, including the quantum effects and accurate, ab initio-based interaction potentials. To date, there has not been a reliable theoretical study indicating that the DOE goal of 6.5% mass ratio can or cannot be achieved in pure graphitic materials.The interaction of nonpolar H 2 molecules with physisorption substrates in graphitic system is mainly the London dispersion. Accurate...