A New Family of Ternary Intermetallic Compounds with Dualistic Atomic Ordering – The ZIP Phases (Adv. Mater. 8/2026)

Novel Ternary Intermetallics In their Research Article (DOI: 10.1002/adma.202308168), Matheus A. Tunes, Konstantina Lambrinou, and co-workers introduce the ZIP phases – a new family of ternary intermetallics with two structural variants: one fcc (space group Fdm) and one hexagonal (space group P63/mmc). Atomically resolved images and crystal structure schematics of the two Nb-Si-Ni ZIP phases are pasted on the yin-yang symbol of duality. The advent of the ZIP phases creates a new ecosystem of nanostructured solids and potential 2D derivatives with properties unlike those achieved by related solids (e.g., MAX phases/MXenes). Background image: Courtesy NASA.