Year: 2026
Type: letter
Abstract: The Rule of Four captures the observation that in experimentally known inorganic stoichiometric compounds the number of atoms in the primitive cell shows an unusual abundance of cases where that number is a multiple of four. The previous comment provides some insightful and appealing explanations of this abundance, some of which we had already considered, and in response we provide further data and analysis. We do not find confirmations of these explanations in our data, despite structural and compositional modulations, and suggest that the origins of the Rule of Four remain elusive, and open for further investigation.
Source: npj Computational Materials
Language: English
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,490
Awards: MAterials design at the eXascale. European Centre of Excellence in materials modelling, simulations, and design, G3188738659, G434337789, NCCR MARVEL: Materials’ Revolution: Computational Design and Discovery of Novel Materials (phase II), Materials Modelling Marketplace for Increased Industrial Innovation, G6349058060, G6492680029
OpenAlex ID: W7125173205