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Three-Dimensional Real Space Invariants, Obstructed Atomic Insulators and A New Principle for Active Catalytic Sites

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arxiv 2111.02433 v1 pith:2KTUMZTZ submitted 2021-11-03 cond-mat.mtrl-sci cond-mat.mes-hallcond-mat.supr-con

classification cond-mat.mtrl-scicond-mat.mes-hallcond-mat.supr-con
keywords oaisatomicinsulatorsobstructedcatalyticmagneticmaterialsrsis
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Topologically trivial insulators come in two kinds: atomic, where the Wannier charge centers (WCCs) are localized on the atoms, and obstructed atomic, where the WCCs are located away from the atoms. The latter, which can exhibit interesting surface states and possibly have much larger band gaps than the topological insulators, have so far not been classified in three-dimensional (3D) crystalline materials. In this paper, we developed the 3D real space invariants (RSIs) for the 1651 Shubnikov space groups with the spin-orbit coupling and provide the full classification of 3D obstructed atomic insulators (OAIs) by the RSIs. We then apply the theory to the entire database of materials on the Topological Quantum Chemistry website and Topological Magnetic Materials website, obtaining all the OAIs so far existing in nature. We find that, out of the 34013 paramagnetic and 296 magnetic topologically trivial insulators, there are 3383 paramagnetic and 30 magnetic OAIs. All of them present a filling anomaly under certain open-boundary conditions and exhibit obstructed surface states (OSSs). We further refine the atomic insulator concept to obtain the orbital-selected OAIs (OOAIs), where the WCC of the system is located at a Wyckoff position occupied by an atom but forms a symmetric representation that does not belong to the outer-shell electrons of the given atom. In such a way, we obtain a further 121 OOAIs. Furthermore, we analyze the catalytic properties of one of the OAIs in a "proof of principle" experiment. By using the single crystal of 2H-MoS2 as a hydrogen evolution catalyst, we directly prove that the catalytic activities arise from the surfaces with OSSs. Additional potential applications of the 3D RSIs and OAIs in, for example, electrochemistry, asymmetric catalysis, superconductivity, and Josephson diode will be discussed.

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Forward citations

Cited by 10 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. Stable Real-Space Invariants and Topology Beyond Symmetry Indicators

    cond-mat.mes-hall 2025-05 conditional novelty 8.0 of 10

    Stable real-space invariants, defined from Wannier multiplicities via Smith normal form, classify stable equivalence of atomic insulators and detect topology beyond symmetry indicators in all but 8 split-EBR cases.

  2. Two-dimensional Topological Quantum Chemistry and Catalog of Topological Materials

    cond-mat.mes-hall 2024-11 conditional novelty 7.0 of 10

    Adapting topological quantum chemistry to layer groups yields a catalog of 4,073 topologically non-trivial or obstructed two-dimensional materials, including 905 candidate topological insulators.

  3. Correlated topological-polarization surface states in the narrow-gap insulator FeSb2

    cond-mat.str-el 2026-08 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    FeSb2 is shown to host topological-polarization surface states whose correlation-controlled behavior is tracked by nonreciprocal transport and which can be gated into a ferromagnetic-like surface state.

  4. Quantum geometry and critical temperature enhancement in MgB$_2$ superconductivity

    cond-mat.supr-con 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Light electron doping of MgB2 is predicted to raise Tc in the clean limit, with the enhancement traced to the quantum-geometric component of the electron-phonon coupling that peaks near the Γ-point band edge.

  5. Fragile Topology is Unstable Under Translation Refinement

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    Every symmetry-indicated fragile phase in any 2D wallpaper group is adiabatically connected to an atomic insulator in some finite symmetry-compatible supercell, with the minimal supercell index tabulated for every sym...

  6. Topological Dislocation Response in Elementary Semiconductors

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    Edge dislocations in silicon, diamond, germanium, and black phosphorene are predicted to bind mid-gap polarization bands protected by a filling anomaly, while screw dislocations are trivial.

  7. Quantum Geometry in the NbSe$_2$ Family I: Obstructed Compact Wannier Function and New Perturbation Theory

    cond-mat.mes-hall 2025-07 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Monolayer NbSe2's Fermi-level flat band is an obstructed atomic band whose Wannier function is 94% reproduced by a compact three-site orbital, and its minimal model has next-nearest-neighbor hopping larger than neares...

  8. Two-dimensional orbital-obstructed insulators with higher-order band topology

    cond-mat.mes-hall 2024-12 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    MX2 monolayers in space group P-3m1 are identified as orbital-obstructed atomic insulators whose finite hexagonal flakes show a bulk-predicted filling anomaly of two, four, or eight electrons.

  9. Real-Space Imaging of Band Topology via Wavefunction Zeros

    cond-mat.mes-hall 2026-07 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    Symmetry forces Bloch wavefunctions to vanish at a pattern of real-space points (the 'dark set') that encodes the band's irreducible representation and, through known indicators, its topological index.

  10. Quantum Geometry in Quantum Materials

    cond-mat.mes-hall 2024-12 unverdicted

    This review surveys how the quantum geometric tensor shapes superconductivity, spin stiffness, exciton condensates, Landau levels, and fractional Chern insulators in quantum materials.

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