title: High pressure stabilization and emergent forms of PbH4.
abstract: A wide decomposition pressure range of 132 GPa is predicted for PbH4 above which it emerges in very different forms compared with its group-14 congeners. This triply Born-Oppenheimer system is a nonmolecular, three-dimensional, metallic alloy, despite a prominent layered structure. A significant number of enthalpically near-degenerate structures, with exceedingly small energy barriers for distortions, and characteristic instabilities in the phonon spectra suggest that even at very high pressures PbH4 may exhibit both metallic and liquidlike properties and sublattice or even full melting.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics and Cornell Center for Materials Research, Clark Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-2501, USA.
authors.forename: Patryk
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zaleski-Ejgierd
authors.forename: Roald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: N W
authors.initials: NW
authors.lastname: Ashcroft