Nonmetallic material, or in nontechnical terms a nonmetal, refers to materials which are not metals. Depending upon context it is used in slightly different ways. In everyday life it would be a generic term for those materials such as plastics, wood or ceramics which are not typical metals such as the iron alloys used in bridges. In some areas of chemistry, particularly the periodic table, it is used for just those chemical elements which are not metallic at standard temperature and pressure conditions. It is also sometimes used to describe broad classes of dopant atoms in materials. In general usage in science, it refers to materials which do not have electrons that can readily move around, more technically there are no available states at the Fermi energy, the equilibrium energy of electrons. For historical reasons there is a very different definition of metals in astronomy, with just hydrogen and helium as nonmetals. The term may also be used as a negative of the materials of interest such as in metallurgy or metalworking.
Variations in the environment, particularly temperature and pressure can change a nonmetal into a metal, and vica versa; this is always associated with some major change in the structure, a phase transition. Other external stimuli such as electric fields can also lead to a local nonmetal, for instance in certain semiconductor devices. There are also many physical phenomena which are only found in nonmetals such as piezoelectricity or flexoelectricity.
The original approach to conduction and nonmetals was a band-structure with delocalized electrons (i.e. spread out in space). In this approach a nonmetal has a gap in the energy levels of the electrons at the Fermi level. [1] : Chpt 8 & 19 In contrast, a metal would have at least one partially occupied band at the Fermi level; [1] in a semiconductor or insulator there are no delocalized states at the Fermi level, see for instance Ashcroft and Mermin. [1] These definitions are equivalent to stating that metals conduct electricity at absolute zero, as suggested by Nevill Francis Mott, [2] : 257 and the equivalent definition at other temperatures is also commonly used as in textbooks such as Chemistry of the Non-Metals by Ralf Steudel [3] and work on metal–insulator transitions. [4] [5]
In early work [6] [7] this band structure interpretation was based upon a single-electron approach with the Fermi level in the band gap as illustrated in the Figure, not including a complete picture of the many-body problem where both exchange and correlation terms can matter, as well as relativistic effects such as spin-orbit coupling. A key addition by Mott and Rudolf Peierls was that these could not be ignored. [8] For instance, nickel oxide would be a metal if a single-electron approach was used, but in fact has quite a large band gap. [9] As of 2024 it is more common to use an approach based upon density functional theory where the many-body terms are included. [10] [11] Rather than single electrons, the filling involves quasiparticles called orbitals, which are the single-particle like solutions for a system with hundreds to thousands of electrons. Although accurate calculations remain a challenge, reasonable results are now available in many cases. [12] [13]
It is also common to nuance somewhat the early definitions of Alan Herries Wilson and Mott. As discussed by both the chemist Peter Edwards and colleagues, [15] as well as Fumiko Yonezawa, [2] : 257–261 it is also important in practice to consider the temperatures at which both metals and nonmetals are used. Yonezawa provides a general definition: [2] : 260
Band structure definitions of metallicity are the most widely used, and apply both to single elements such as insulating boron [16] as well as compounds such as strontium titanate. [17] (There are many compounds which have states at the Fermi level and are metallic, for instance titanium nitride. [18] ) There are many experimental methods of checking for nonmetals by measuring the band gap, or by ab-initio quantum mechanical calculations. [19]
An alternative in metallurgy is to consider various malleable alloys such as steel, aluminium alloys and similar as metals, and other materials as nonmetals; [20] fabricating metals is termed metalworking, [21] but there is no corresponding term for nonmetals. A loose definition such as this is often the common useage, but can also be inaccurate. For instance, in this useage plastics are nonmetals, but in fact there are (electrically) conducting polymers [22] [23] which should formally be described as metals. Similar, but slightly more complex, many materials which are (nonmetal) semiconductors behave like metals when they contain a high concentration of dopants, being called degenerate semiconductors. [24] A general introduction to much of this can be found in the 2017 book by Fumiko Yonezawa [2] : Chpt 1
The term nonmetal (chemistry) is also used for those elements which are not metallic in their normal ground state; compounds are sometimes excluded from consideration. Some textbooks use the term nonmetallic elements such as the Chemistry of the Non-Metals by Ralf Steudel, [25] : 4 which also uses the general definition in terms of conduction and the Fermi level. [25] : 154 The approach based upon the elements is often used in teaching to help students understand the periodic table of elements, [26] although it is a teaching oversimplification. [27] [28] Those elements towards the top right of the periodic table are nonmetals, those towards the center (transition metal and lanthanide) and the left are metallic. An intermediate designation metalloid is used for some elements.
The term is sometimes also used when describing dopants of specific elements types in compounds, alloys or combinations of materials, using the periodic table classification. For instance metalloids are often used in high-temperature alloys, [29] and nonmetals in precipitation hardening in steels and other alloys. [30] Here the description implicitly includes information on whether the dopants tend to be electron acceptors that lead to covalently bonded compounds rather than metallic bonding or electron acceptors.
A quite different approach is used in astronomy where the term metallicity is used for all elements heavier than helium, so the only nonmetals are hydrogen and helium. This is a historical anomaly. In 1802, William Hyde Wollaston [31] noted the appearance of a number of dark features in the solar spectrum. [32] In 1814, Joseph von Fraunhofer independently rediscovered the lines and began to systematically study and measure their wavelengths, and they are now called Fraunhofer lines. He mapped over 570 lines, designating the most prominent with the letters A through K and weaker lines with other letters. [33] [34] [35]
About 45 years later, Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen [36] noticed that several Fraunhofer lines coincide with characteristic emission lines identifies in the spectra of heated chemical elements. [37] They inferred that dark lines in the solar spectrum are caused by absorption by chemical elements in the solar atmosphere. [38] Their observations [39] were in the visible range where the strongest lines come from metals such as Na, K, Fe. [40] In the early work on the chemical composition of the sun the only elements that were detected in spectra were hydrogen and various metals, [41] : 23–24 with the term metallic frequently used when describing them. [41] : Part 2 In contemporary usage all the extra elements beyond just hydrogen and helium are termed metallic.
The astrophysicst Carlos Jaschek, and the stellar astronomer and spectroscopist Mercedes Jaschek, in their book The Classification of Stars, observed that: [42]
There are many cases where an element or compound is metallic under certain circumstances, but a nonmetal in others. One example is metallic hydrogen which forms under very high pressures. [44] There are many other cases as discussed by Mott, [4] Inada et al [5] and more recently by Yonezawa. [2]
There can also be local transitions to a nonmetal, particularly in semiconductor devices. One example is a field-effect transistor where an electric field can lead to a region where there are no electrons at the Fermi energy (depletion zone). [45] [46]
Nonmetals have a wide range of properties, for instance the nonmetal diamond is the hardest known material, while the nonmetal molybdenum disulfide is a solid lubricants used in space. [47] There are some properties specific to them not having electrons at the Fermi energy. The main ones, for which more details are available in the links are: [1] : Chpt 27-29 [48]
Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter, especially the solid and liquid phases, that arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms and electrons. More generally, the subject deals with condensed phases of matter: systems of many constituents with strong interactions among them. More exotic condensed phases include the superconducting phase exhibited by certain materials at extremely low cryogenic temperatures, the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases of spins on crystal lattices of atoms, the Bose–Einstein condensates found in ultracold atomic systems, and liquid crystals. Condensed matter physicists seek to understand the behavior of these phases by experiments to measure various material properties, and by applying the physical laws of quantum mechanics, electromagnetism, statistical mechanics, and other physics theories to develop mathematical models and predict the properties of extremely large groups of atoms.
A metal is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. These properties are all associated with having electrons available at the Fermi level, as against nonmetallic materials which do not. Metals are typically ductile and malleable.
The periodic table, also known as the periodic table of the elements, is an ordered arrangement of the chemical elements into rows ("periods") and columns ("groups"). It is an icon of chemistry and is widely used in physics and other sciences. It is a depiction of the periodic law, which states that when the elements are arranged in order of their atomic numbers an approximate recurrence of their properties is evident. The table is divided into four roughly rectangular areas called blocks. Elements in the same group tend to show similar chemical characteristics.
An electron and an electron hole that are attracted to each other by the Coulomb force can form a bound state called an exciton. It is an electrically neutral quasiparticle that exists mainly in condensed matter, including insulators, semiconductors, some metals, but also in certain atoms, molecules and liquids. The exciton is regarded as an elementary excitation that can transport energy without transporting net electric charge.
In the context of the periodic table a nonmetal is a chemical element that mostly lacks distinctive metallic properties. They range from colorless gases like hydrogen to shiny crystals like iodine. Physically, they are usually lighter than elements that form metals and are often poor conductors of heat and electricity. Chemically, nonmetals have relatively high electronegativity or usually attract electrons in a chemical bond with another element, and their oxides tend to be acidic.
In solid-state physics and solid-state chemistry, a band gap, also called a bandgap or energy gap, is an energy range in a solid where no electronic states exist. In graphs of the electronic band structure of solids, the band gap refers to the energy difference between the top of the valence band and the bottom of the conduction band in insulators and semiconductors. It is the energy required to promote an electron from the valence band to the conduction band. The resulting conduction-band electron are free to move within the crystal lattice and serve as charge carriers to conduct electric current. It is closely related to the HOMO/LUMO gap in chemistry. If the valence band is completely full and the conduction band is completely empty, then electrons cannot move within the solid because there are no available states. If the electrons are not free to move within the crystal lattice, then there is no generated current due to no net charge carrier mobility. However, if some electrons transfer from the valence band to the conduction band, then current can flow. Therefore, the band gap is a major factor determining the electrical conductivity of a solid. Substances having large band gaps are generally insulators, those with small band gaps are semiconductor, and conductors either have very small band gaps or none, because the valence and conduction bands overlap to form a continuous band.
Metallic hydrogen is a phase of hydrogen in which it behaves like an electrical conductor. This phase was predicted in 1935 on theoretical grounds by Eugene Wigner and Hillard Bell Huntington.
In chemistry and physics, valence electrons are electrons in the outermost shell of an atom, and that can participate in the formation of a chemical bond if the outermost shell is not closed. In a single covalent bond, a shared pair forms with both atoms in the bond each contributing one valence electron.
A semimetal is a material with a small energy overlap between the bottom of the conduction band and the top of the valence band, but they do not overlap in momentum space. According to electronic band theory, solids can be classified as insulators, semiconductors, semimetals, or metals. In insulators and semiconductors the filled valence band is separated from an empty conduction band by a band gap. For insulators, the magnitude of the band gap is larger than that of a semiconductor. Because of the slight overlap between the conduction and valence bands, semimetals have no band gap and a small density of states at the Fermi level. A metal, by contrast, has an appreciable density of states at the Fermi level because the conduction band is partially filled.
Organic semiconductors are solids whose building blocks are pi-bonded molecules or polymers made up by carbon and hydrogen atoms and – at times – heteroatoms such as nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen. They exist in the form of molecular crystals or amorphous thin films. In general, they are electrical insulators, but become semiconducting when charges are injected from appropriate electrodes or are introduced by doping or photoexcitation.
In chemistry, a dangling bond is an unsatisfied valence on an immobilized atom. An atom with a dangling bond is also referred to as an immobilized free radical or an immobilized radical, a reference to its structural and chemical similarity to a free radical.
Mott insulators are a class of materials that are expected to conduct electricity according to conventional band theories, but turn out to be insulators. These insulators fail to be correctly described by band theories of solids due to their strong electron–electron interactions, which are not considered in conventional band theory. A Mott transition is a transition from a metal to an insulator, driven by the strong interactions between electrons. One of the simplest models that can capture Mott transition is the Hubbard model.
Metal–insulator transitions are transitions of a material from a metal to an insulator. These transitions can be achieved by tuning various ambient parameters such as temperature, pressure or, in case of a semiconductor, doping.
In solid-state physics, a metal–semiconductor (M–S) junction is a type of electrical junction in which a metal comes in close contact with a semiconductor material. It is the oldest practical semiconductor device. M–S junctions can either be rectifying or non-rectifying. The rectifying metal–semiconductor junction forms a Schottky barrier, making a device known as a Schottky diode, while the non-rectifying junction is called an ohmic contact.
Positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) or sometimes specifically referred to as positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) is a non-destructive spectroscopy technique to study voids and defects in solids.
In solid-state physics, Kondo insulators are understood as materials with strongly correlated electrons, that open up a narrow band gap at low temperatures with the chemical potential lying in the gap, whereas in heavy fermion materials the chemical potential is located in the conduction band.
The chemical elements can be broadly divided into metals, metalloids, and nonmetals according to their shared physical and chemical properties. All elemental metals have a shiny appearance ; are good conductors of heat and electricity; form alloys with other metallic elements; and have at least one basic oxide. Metalloids are metallic-looking, often brittle solids that are either semiconductors or exist in semiconducting forms, and have amphoteric or weakly acidic oxides. Typical elemental nonmetals have a dull, coloured or colourless appearance; are often brittle when solid; are poor conductors of heat and electricity; and have acidic oxides. Most or some elements in each category share a range of other properties; a few elements have properties that are either anomalous given their category, or otherwise extraordinary.
Samarium hexaboride (SmB6) is an intermediate-valence compound where samarium is present both as Sm2+ and Sm3+ ions at the ratio 3:7. It is a Kondo insulator having a metallic surface state.
Fullerides are chemical compounds containing fullerene anions. Common fullerides are derivatives of the most common fullerenes, i.e. C60 and C70. The scope of the area is large because multiple charges are possible, i.e., [C60]n− (n = 1, 2...6), and all fullerenes can be converted to fullerides. The suffix "-ide" implies their negatively charged nature.
Thomas Maurice Rice, known professionally as Maurice Rice, was an Irish theoretical physicist specializing in condensed matter physics.