Aromaticity, Closed-Shell Effects, and Metallization of Hydrogen

Conspectus Recent theoretical and experimental studies reveal that compressed molecular hydrogen at 200-350 GPa transforms to layered structures consisting of distorted graphene sheets. The discovery of chemical bonding motifs in these phases that are far from close-packed contrasts with the long-held view that hydrogen should form simple, symmetric, ambient alkali-metal-like structures at these pressures. Chemical bonding considerations indicate that the realization of such unexpected structures can be explained by consideration of simple low-dimensional model systems based on H6 rings and graphene-like monolayers. Both molecular quantum chemistry and solid-state physics approaches show that these model systems exhibit a special stability, associated with the completely filled set of bonding orbitals or valence bands. This closed-shell effect persists in the experimentally observed layered structures where it prevents the energy gap from closing, thus delaying the pressure-induced metallization. Metallization occurs upon further compression by destroying the closed shell electronic structure, which is mainly determined by the 1s electrons via lowering of the bonding bands stemming from the unoccupied atomic 2s and 2p orbitals. Because enhanced diamagnetic susceptibility is a fingerprint of aromaticity, magnetic measurements provide a potentially important tool for further characterization of compressed hydrogen. The results indicate that the properties of dense hydrogen are controlled by chemical bonding forces over a much broader range of conditions than previously considered.