Abstract

High-energy nuclear detonations generate extreme, transient physicochemical environments capable of producing previously unknown materials. We report the discovery of a previously unknown multicomponent alloy preserved within a hiroshimaite spherule recovered from beach sands of Hiroshima Bay, formed during the 6 August 1945 atomic airburst. The micrometer-sized metallic grain occurs within a quenched glassy matrix. Electron microprobe analyses reveal a homogeneous, Si-rich multielement composition (Fe-Cr-Ni-Mn-Mo-Si-Al). Single-crystal x-ray diffraction shows that the phase crystallizes in space group _P_213 with the ordered AlAu4-type structure, an ordered derivative of β-Mn. The alloy likely formed by condensation from a mixed metallic vapor followed by ultrafast quenching in the expanding fireball. This finding demonstrates that nuclear plasma events may stabilize complex metallic phases and highlights atomic-blast debris as a natural laboratory for nonequilibrium alloy formation and materials discovery.

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INTRODUCTION

High-energy catastrophic events like nuclear detonations generate transient physicochemical environments comparable in nature to hypervelocity planetary collisions, meteor impacts, and lightning strikes. These phenomena produce extreme temperatures, rapid pressure fluctuations, vaporization of heterogeneous materials, and subsequent condensation of melts and aerosols from expanding fireballs. Such environments can form mineralogical and metallurgical phases that cannot be produced under ordinary conditions [e.g., (1–6)].

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 generated a nuclear airburst over a large urban environment. The detonation produced a fireball reaching temperatures exceeding 7000°C within seconds, entraining and vaporizing building materials, soils, metals, glass, and water into a turbulent plasma cloud [e.g., (3)]. Recent investigations have demonstrated that this event produced abundant micrometer-to-millimeter-scale fallout debris preserved in beach sands of Hiroshima Bay (7). Microanalytical studies revealed that many Hiroshima glasses are dominated by Ca-Al-Si compositions with microcrystalline mullite and anorthite, implying formation temperatures exceeding ∼1800°C (7). Isotopic analyses further demonstrated large kinetic mass-dependent fractionation in silicon (δ30Si down to −23‰) and substantial oxygen mass-independent fractionation (Δ17O as low as −3.1‰), providing compelling evidence that these materials condensed from vapor during rapid cooling of the fireball (8). Together, these findings established that the Hiroshima explosion produced a previously unrecognized class of anthropogenic high-temperature condensates formed under near-atmospheric pressure but extreme thermal and redox gradients. Such fireball conditions—rapid vaporization of multicomponent metallic and silicate materials followed by high supersaturation and ultrafast quenching—are theoretically favorable not only to silicate condensation but also to the formation of chemically complex metallic phases (9, 10).

Multicomponent alloys, made of combinations of five or more principal metallic elements, are typically engineered through controlled melting and solidification processes (11). However, their formation fundamentally requires extreme mixing, high temperature, and rapid quenching—conditions that arise during meteorite impacts and in nuclear fireballs. Urban materials vaporized during the Hiroshima detonation included structural steels (Fe-Cr-Ni), aluminum alloys, copper-bearing components, and other industrial metals. Under the thermodynamic and kinetic regime of the expanding fireball, condensation of multicomponent metallic droplets from a mixed vapor phase becomes plausible. Unlike conventional metallurgical environments, such a system would permit stochastic atomic mixing of diverse metallic species (usually not present in common stainless steels) before rapid solidification, potentially stabilizing metastable phases.

Here, we report the study of several hiroshimaites, the name given to Hiroshima fallout debris by Wannier et al. (7). One of them was found to contain many micrometer-sized Fe-Cr metallic fragments, among which a previously undocumented multicomponent alloy particle was found. The alloy occurs within the same sedimentary units in Hiroshima Bay as the previously described silicate condensates and exhibits microstructural and compositional characteristics consistent with rapid condensation and quenching from a multielement metallic vapor. This unique hiroshimaite sample will be the subject of this paper.

This finding expands the known spectrum of materials generated by nuclear detonations and demonstrates that anthropogenic plasma events can produce complex metallic phases in natural settings. Beyond its historical significance, the occurrence of a novel Si-rich multicomponent alloy with the AuAl4 structure (12, 13) formed by fireball condensation provides a unique natural laboratory for studying rapid alloy nucleation under extreme nonequilibrium conditions. It further underscores the broader concept that nuclear detonations—like large impacts—can generate novel materials through vapor-phase condensation processes, linking anthropogenic high-energy events to planetary-scale processes of melt and vapor evolution.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Petrographic context of the hiroshimaite sample

A large number (34) of hiroshimaite samples were studied by a combination of incident-light microscopy (figs. S1 to S3), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron microprobe analysis, and single-crystal x-ray diffraction (SC-XRD). One of these samples (Fig. 1 and fig. S4) was found to contain many Fe-Cr alloys and has become the subject of this investigation. The sample occurs as a quenched, impact-like spherule embedded in a glassy matrix, recording an ultrarapid melting-mixing-solidification history (fig. S4). The spherule, when polished and studied with the SEM, is texturally complex and internally zoned, consisting predominantly of heterogeneous silicate glasses intergrown with dispersed metallic inclusions (fig. S5). The silicate component varies from relatively polymerized Si-rich glass domains to more depolymerized Fe-Mg-Ca–bearing glass patches, reflecting incomplete chemical homogenization before quench. Sharp compositional boundaries and flow banding are common, indicating viscous deformation during melt transport and arrest of diffusion at short length scales.

Fig. 1. The studied hiroshimaite sample.

Back-scattered electron image taken with a scanning electron microscope of the spheroidal hiroshimaite sample containing Fe-Cr alloys.

Metallic material (i.e., mostly Fe-Cr alloys) constitutes a minor but pervasive fraction of the spherule, typically ∼1 to 3 vol% of the total, and occurs as droplets, blebs, and angular to subrounded particles distributed throughout the glass (fig. S6). The metal occurs both as isolated inclusions and as small clusters aligned along flow features, suggesting syn-melting segregation of immiscible metal from silicate melt followed by mechanical entrainment during rapid motion and quenching. At the microscale, the sample is highly heterogeneous: Individual metal Fe-Cr particles may be separated by only a few micrometers yet exhibit markedly different compositions and backscattered-electron contrast. Many inclusions show smooth droplet morphologies consistent with surface tension–controlled shapes, whereas others are irregular or partially coalesced, implying collision and incomplete relaxation before solidification (figs. S6 and S7).

Chemically, most of the metallic particles are dominated by Fe with variable Cr, Ni, Mn, and Mo and very minor Si, defining a family of Fe-Cr-Ni-Mn-Mo-(Si) alloys (Table 1 and fig. S8). From a structural point of view, diffraction studies on selected grains (fig. S6, A to C) showed that they exhibit the body-centered cubic (BCC) structure. Such Fe-Cr alloys were previously reported in hiroshimaite and interpreted as products of extreme, transient pressure-temperature conditions followed by rapid, nonequilibrium crystallization (7). Their compositions (Table 1) are consistent with (i) incomplete mixing of multiple metallic sources, (ii) strong partitioning between metal and silicate liquids, and (iii) kinetic trapping during quench rather than equilibrium phase relations. In this context, each metallic droplet effectively acts as a “micro-reactor” that captures a specific local melt composition at the instant of solidification, thereby preserving a high-resolution record of the short-lived thermochemical environment.

Table 1. Electron microprobe analyses (wt % of elements) together with atomic percentages for the investigated Fe-Cr alloys in hiroshimaites.

*

Point analyses of the Si-rich fragment.

Identification and characterization of a previously unknown Si-rich Fe-Cr alloy

Among the identified Fe-Cr alloys, there is a tiny fragment, highlighted in Fig. 2 and enlarged in fig. S7, that shows a measurable Si enrichment relative to the Fe-Cr-Ni-Mn-Mo baseline (Table 1, nos. 16 to 19). Electron microprobe analyses of four points on the grain (Table 1, nos. 16 to 19) yield an average composition (in wt %) of Fe 62.69, Cr 14.71, Si 7.02, Ni 8.95, Mn 2.09, Mo 3.70, Al 0.56, and P 0.02, corresponding to atomic proportions Fe58.9Cr14.9Si13.1Ni8.0Mn2.0Mo2.0Al1.1. Within analytical uncertainty, the grain is chemically homogeneous, consistent with crystallization from a single melt droplet followed by quenching fast enough to suppress late-stage exsolution or diffusion-controlled zoning (Table 1, Fig. 2, and fig. S7).

Fig. 2. Multicomponent Si-rich Fe-Cr alloy.

X-ray elemental maps collected with a scanning electron microscope of the Si-rich Fe-Cr alloy investigated in this study.

This composition occupies a Si-rich region of the Fe-Cr-Ni-Mn-Si system that is not typically associated with common Fe-Cr-Ni intermetallics or equilibrium silicide assemblages at ambient pressures (14). The closest compositional analog currently available in the literature is Fe43.67Cr21.84Ni21.83Si6.55Al6.11 (15), designed and produced via arc-melting, which likewise combines multiple transition metals with Si and Al in a complex, bulky BCC structure and branches of fine needle-like face-centered cubic (FCC) particles.

The same Si-rich grain analyzed by electron microprobe (Fig. 2 and fig. S7) was extracted from the polished section and studied by SC-XRD. Diffraction data (Fig. 3) revealed a cubic unit cell with space group _P_213 (no. 198), lattice parameter a = 6.2666(5) Å, and Z = 4. Refinement indicates that the alloy exhibits the AlAu4-type structure (table S1 and Fig. 4), which is described as an ordered derivative of the β-Mn structure (12, 13). This structural relationship is well established: For example, Mn3IrSi (12) crystallizes in the cubic AlAu4-type structure (_P_213) and is explicitly identified as an ordered form of β-Mn.

Fig. 3. X-ray single-crystal data.

Precession reconstructed images of all the collected single-crystal x-ray data from the multicomponent Si-rich Fe-Cr alloy projected down [100] (left) and [110] (right).

Fig. 4. Structural details of the Si-rich Fe-Cr alloy.

The crystal structure (left) of the Si-rich Fe-Cr alloy down [100]. Green and yellow spheres refer to M (Fe, Cr, Ni, Mn, and Mo—12_b_ and 4_a_ sites) and Si atoms (4_a_ site), respectively. The unit cells are outlined in bold. Almost icosahedral crystal-chemical environment of the Si atom (right).

Site occupancies indicate that Si resides at the 4_a_ site together with the available Al and a fraction of heavier metals [refined population at the site: Si0.69(2)M_0.31 where M = Fe, Cr, Ni, Mn, and Mo], while the remaining M atoms occupy a second 4_a site and a 12_b_ sites (table S1). The refined site occupancies are consistent with full occupancy within uncertainties and produce an x-ray–derived formula (overall 120.4 electrons, with Z = 4) in excellent agreement with the electron microprobe data (overall 122.5 electrons, with Z = 4). Structurally, the M atoms at the 12_b_ site are effectively 14-coordinated, while those at the 4_a_ site are 12-coordinated by three Si atoms and nine M atoms. The Si-bearing 4_a_ site forms a somewhat distorted icosahedral coordination shell of 12 metal atoms (Fig. 4), with bond distances ranging from 2.349 to 2.655 Å, emphasizing the prominence of icosahedral-like local motifs within an overall periodic framework.

From a materials-design perspective, at first glance, the phase could also be interpreted as a high-entropy alloy (HEA)–like compound: Multiple principal metallic species share crystallographic sites in an ordered but compositionally complex framework, plausibly stabilized (at least metastably) by the combination of high configurational entropy and rapid quenching. However, given that (i) the Si-rich alloy exhibits a composition that is strongly dominated by Fe, (ii) its chemical proportions deviate significantly from near-equiatomic conditions, and (iii) its crystal structure is clearly ordered rather than representing a disordered solid solution, it becomes difficult to classify this material as a HEA in the strict sense. Nevertheless, the overall chemical composition—reminiscent of stainless steel-like systems—would ordinarily be expected to stabilize simple metallic BCC or FCC structures (15). In contrast, the observed Si-rich phase adopts the AuAl4-type structure, which is more commonly associated with ordered intermetallic compounds rather than with compositionally complex alloys.

This apparent contradiction makes the found phase particularly intriguing: It combines a compositional complexity that is characteristic of disordered HEAs with a fully ordered crystal structure. Such behavior challenges the conventional distinction between HEAs and intermetallic compounds and suggests the possibility of intermediate or hybrid structural regimes that merit further investigation.

Multi–principal-element alloys can exhibit unusual combinations of mechanical strength, thermal stability, corrosion resistance, and functional properties, especially when their microstructures are kinetically trapped or involve complex ordered/disordered states. The found phase therefore represents a crystallographically confirmed AlAu4-type structure among the solid-state products of a nuclear explosion, and a member of the Fe-Cr-Ni-Si–rich multicomponent alloys with a β-Mn structure formed under extreme, transient conditions.

Contextual relationship to other phases found in atomic-blast materials

The identification of an AlAu4-type phase in hiroshimaite is especially intriguing because AlAu4-type structures are ordered derivatives of β-Mn, and β-Mn itself occupies a prominent place in the broader landscape of quasiperiodic order and its periodic relatives. In the quasicrystal literature, “approximants” are periodic crystals that closely mimic the local atomic clusters and short- to medium-range order of a quasicrystal, differing primarily by the presence of translational periodicity (16). In certain quasicrystal families, β-Mn–type order has been treated as an approximant (or approximant-like) reference structure because it can reproduce key local motifs and diffraction relationships relevant to quasiperiodic phases. A focused discussion appears in the context of octagonal quasicrystals, where β-Mn is highlighted as a uniquely occurring approximant in that structural setting (17, 18). More broadly, transformations and orientation relationships between octagonal quasicrystals and β-Mn–type structures have been investigated in alloy systems such as Cr-Ni-Si, underlining a crystallographic affinity between quasiperiodic states and β-Mn–derived periodic states (19).

This conceptual proximity provides a natural bridge to the most notable precedent from nuclear-blast debris: the discovery of an icosahedral quasicrystal formed during the Trinity test (16 July 1945, Alamogordo, New Mexico). Bindi et al. (5) reported an otherwise unknown icosahedral quasicrystal synthesized accidentally in red trinitite, demonstrating that the shock- and heat-driven, highly transient environment of a nuclear detonation can generate quasiperiodic order and preserve it by rapid quenching. In that case, the quasicrystal arose from extreme conditions plus an unusual chemical inventory (including Cu from device-related components), producing a phase that likely would be difficult to access through conventional metallurgical pathways (20).

Hiroshimaite now adds an important complementary data point: even when fully quasiperiodic order is not observed, blast-derived materials can yield periodic structures that sit “near” the quasicrystal domain in terms of local motifs and structural genealogy. This suggests a broader materials principle: Nuclear-blast environments may preferentially explore regions of phase space characterized by complex cluster-based order (including approximants and quasicrystals), because rapid melting, violent mixing, and ultrafast quenching can stabilize cluster-rich arrangements before they decompose into simpler equilibrium phases. In that sense, the new multicomponent alloy described here can be viewed as part of a continuum of “extreme-condition cluster phases” that includes approximants and, in rare cases, true quasicrystals.

A further aspect that deserves consideration in comparing blast-generated phases from different nuclear events is the markedly different detonation geometries and yields, which necessarily produced distinct pressure-temperature-time (P-T-t) paths and melt-mixing regimes. The Trinity test (16 July 1945) was detonated when the device (“the Gadget”) was positioned approximately 30 m above ground level and released an energy of ∼21 kilotons (kt) of TNT equivalent. In contrast, the Hiroshima device was air-burst at an altitude of ∼600 m and yielded ∼15 kt, while the Nagasaki device was detonated at ∼500 m with a yield comparable to Trinity (∼21 kt) (21). The much lower burst height at Trinity resulted in far stronger coupling between the fireball and the desert surface, promoting extensive melting, vaporization, and incorporation of local sediments into the evolving plasma and molten debris cloud. This efficient ground interaction is reflected in the formation of large volumes of trinitite and in the preservation of high-temperature reaction products, including the icosahedral quasicrystal reported from Trinity debris (22). By contrast, the significantly higher burst altitude at Hiroshima—selected to maximize the lateral propagation of the blast wave and destructive overpressure—would have reduced the degree and duration of direct fireball-ground interaction relative to Trinity. The lower yield (15 kt versus 21 kt) further implies differences in peak temperature, pressure distribution, and total energy available for surface melting and mixing. Although the Hiroshima explosion still generated sufficient thermal flux to melt construction materials and soils, the P-T-t trajectory experienced by entrained melts and metallic droplets would have differed in both magnitude and temporal evolution. Similarly, the Nagasaki event, while comparable in yield to Trinity, occurred at a much greater burst height (∼500 m), again implying weaker ground coupling and a distinct debris-formation regime. These differences are not merely historical details; they are directly relevant to phase formation. Variations in the degree of substrate incorporation into the fireball, the redox conditions governed by mixing with atmospheric oxygen versus substrate-derived gases, the cooling rates controlled by expansion dynamics, and the residence time of molten droplets within high-temperature regions of the plume have produced distinct thermodynamic and kinetic pathways.

Importance of the novel multicomponent alloy and potential technological relevance

Multicomponent alloys, including high-entropy alloys, have become a major theme in modern alloy design because multi–principal-element compositions can deliver property combinations that are difficult to achieve in conventional alloys—high strength with good ductility, excellent wear resistance, strong corrosion/oxidation resistance, and retention of mechanical performance at elevated temperature, depending on system and microstructure [e.g., (11)]. In this frame, the new AlAu4-type alloy described here is notable for two reasons: (i) crystal-chemical novelty in a technologically relevant compositional space, and (ii) it can be considered a structural template for exploring cluster-based strengthening and stability. Fe-Cr-Ni–based alloys are indeed central to structural metallurgy (e.g., stainless steels and corrosion-resistant alloys). Introducing Si (and minor Al) in an ordered, β-Mn–derived framework creates a fundamentally different bonding/topology environment than common FCC/BCC solid solutions (23). Because the AlAu4 type is an ordered variant of β-Mn, it can host complex coordination polyhedra and nontrivial site topologies that may support unusual combinations of hardness, thermal stability, and potentially functional (electronic/magnetic) behavior in related systems. The fact that multiple Mn-based intermetallics adopt this structure and exhibit magnetically frustrated or complex magnetic states underscores that the structural family can host nontrivial physics when the electron count and site occupancies are appropriate.

Furthermore, many studies [e.g., (24–26)] emphasize that the performance of multicomponent alloys often arises not only from “high entropy” in the strict thermodynamic sense, but also from severe lattice distortion, sluggish diffusion, and access to multiphase or ordered/disordered microstructures. An AlAu4-type framework, with its mixed coordination environments and the ability to distribute multiple metals over crystallographic sites, could provide a robust structural template for designing new Fe-Cr-Ni-Si(-Al) alloys where stability is enhanced by both ordering and compositional complexity. Even if the precise composition of the alloy found in hiroshimaite is not directly practical as an engineering alloy, the structure type and site chemistry might point toward a broader, experimentally accessible design space that could be targeted by rapid-solidification methods, powder metallurgy, or additive manufacturing routes.

Atomic-debris mineralogy as a pathway to new materials and nuclear forensics

The careful microanalytical and crystallographic study of hiroshimaite samples demonstrates that atomic-blast debris can preserve a diverse suite of extreme-condition solids, including compositionally complex Fe-Cr alloys and, here, a previously unknown Si-rich Fe-Cr-AlAu4–type (β-Mn–derived) multicomponent alloy. Because these materials form and quench on exceptionally short timescales, they capture metastable states that are rarely accessible through standard synthesis. The structural relationship between the AlAu4-type phase and β-Mn, and the broader role of β-Mn–related order as an approximant/structural neighbor in quasicrystal science, provides a natural conceptual link to the Trinity-test icosahedral quasicrystal discovery (5), reinforcing the idea that nuclear detonations can generate both quasiperiodic phases and structurally adjacent periodic “approximant-like” phases.

From a materials-discovery standpoint, these findings argue that atomic debris functions as an inadvertent but powerful “materials acceleration experiment,” producing extreme P-T-t trajectories, intense mixing, and rapid quenching that sample unconventional regions of phase space. The possibility that the newly identified phase was already present in preexisting industrial alloys was considered but excluded on the basis of the observed unique combination of elements and crystal structure. In particular, the strongly Fe-dominated, Si-rich composition departs markedly from the compositional spectrum typical of industrial alloys, which are generally optimized within well-established phase fields. Moreover, such compositions are not known to stabilize the observed ordered AuAl4-type structure under conventional metallurgical conditions, where instead simpler BCC or FCC solid solutions are expected. The absence of any reported analog in extensively characterized industrial alloy systems further supports the conclusion that this phase is not derived from preexisting materials.

From a nuclear-forensics standpoint, the same features imply that blast-formed glasses and embedded micro-alloys can encode diagnostic information about device materials, local environment, and thermochemical conditions during detonation, information that can be extracted through coordinated petrography, microchemistry, and crystallography. Together, these perspectives motivate systematic, ethically and legally managed scientific studies of blast-derived materials: not only to reconstruct event histories, but also to identify new structure types and compositional motifs with potential relevance to future alloy design and functional materials research.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Samples

The hiroshimaite sample containing the new Si-rich Fe-Cr-AlAu4–type alloy described in this paper (Fig. 1 and fig. S4) is one of 34 samples of roughly the same size examined for this study (figs. S1 to S3), all of which were provided by one of the authors (M.W.). The samples were embedded in epoxy resin and prepared as polished thick sections. One of these samples (Figs. 1 and 2 and fig. S4) turned out to contain several Fe-Cr–rich alloys (figs. S5 to S8), which were the subject of the present investigation. Among these alloys, four fragments that appeared promising in terms of chemical composition and suitable size for being tested by SC-XRD were removed by hand (using fine needles) from the polished sections. Each was about 10 μm across. All grains were found to have relatively good diffraction quality: three (fig. S6, A to C) showed the cubic BCC structure of the α-phase of iron and one (Fig. 2 and fig. S7) turned out to exhibit the AuAl4 cubic structure. The results presented here are from scanning electron microscopy, electron microprobe in wavelength-dispersive spectrometry (WDS), and SC-XRD techniques.

Scanning electron microscopy

The instrument used was a field-emission HITACHI SU8700 VP SEM coupled with an EDS Oxford UltimMax40 and EBSD Oxford Symmetry S2, operating at 25-kV accelerating potential, 500-pA probe current, 2,500 counts per second as average count rate on the whole spectrum, and a counting time of 500 s. Sample was sputter-coated with 30-nm-thick carbon film.

Electron microprobe

Quantitative analyses were carried out using a JEOL JXA 8200 microprobe (WDS mode, 15 kV, 10 nA, 1-μm beam size, counting times 20 s for peak and 10 s for background). For the WDS analyses, the _K_α lines for all the elements were used. The metallic fragments were found to be homogeneous within analytical error. The estimated analytical precision (in wt %) is as follows: ±0.02 for Al, P, and Si; ±0.75 for Cr; ±0.12 for Mn; ±1.08 for Fe; ±0.66 for Ni; and ±0.09 for Mo. The standards used were pure elements for Al, Si, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, and Mo and apatite for P. Four point analyses on different spots for each fragment were collected (Table 1).

Single-crystal x-ray diffraction

Single-crystal x-ray studies were carried out using a Bruker D8 Venture diffractometer equipped with a Photon III CCD detector, with graphite-monochromatized Mo_K_α radiation (λ = 0.71073 Å) and with 30-s exposure time per frame. The detector-to-sample distance was 7 cm.

Small fragments (about 8 to 10 μm in size) were extracted from the polished section under a reflected light microscope and mounted on a 5-μm-diameter carbon fiber, which was, in turn, attached to a glass rod. Three of the handpicked fragments (fig. S6, A to C) showed the cubic BCC structure of the α-phase of iron with lattice parameters in the range 2.87 to 2.92 Å. The newly found Si-rich Fe-Cr alloy (Fig. 2 and fig. S7) consists of a crystalline cubic compound with the following unit-cell values: a = 6.2666(5), V = 246.09(3) Å3, and Z = 4; space group _P_213 (no. 198). Single-crystal x-ray diffraction intensity data were collected using ω and φ scan modes, in 0.5° slices, with an exposure time of 60 s per frame. The data were corrected for Lorentz and polarization factors and absorption using the Bruker software package APEX3. A total of 26,619 reflections were collected (511 unique reflections) up to 2θ = 80°. Given the similarity in unit-cell values and space groups, the structure was refined starting from the atomic coordinates reported for the _P_213 crystal structure of MnNiSi (27) using the program Shelxl-97 (28). The site occupancy factor at the sites was allowed to vary (Fe versus structural vacancy for the two M sites and Si versus Fe for the Si site) using scattering curves for neutral atoms taken from the International Tables for Crystallography (29). At the last stage, with anisotropic displacement parameters for all the atoms, the structure was refined to _R_1 = 0.0540 using 511 independent reflections. Crystallographic data are available as Supplementary Materials and can be obtained free of charge from The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC 2533506) via www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/data_request/cif.

Acknowledgments

We thank T. Catelani (MEMA, University of Florence) and L. Chelazzi (CRIST, University of Florence) for assistance with SEM and x-ray diffraction experiments, respectively. We acknowledge valuable comments from the editor and reviewers that helped us improve the manuscript. We are grateful to M. de Urreiztieta for sample collection and comments.

Funding:

L.B. thanks the Space It Up project funded by the Italian Space Agency, ASI, and the Ministry of University and Research, MUR, under contract no. 2024-5-E.0-CUP no. I53D24000060005. H.-R.W. appreciates funding from DOE-BES DE-FG02-05ER15637 (for work on this project) and thanks NSF EAR-2154351 for support of facilities.

Author contributions:

Conceptualization: L.B. and H.-R.W. Methodology: L.B. Validation: L.B., H.-R.W., and M.W. Formal analysis: L.B. Investigation: L.B. and H.-R.W. Resources: L.B., H.-R.W., M.W., and T.S. Data curation: M.W. and T.S. Writing—original draft preparation: L.B. Writing—review and editing: L.B., H.-R.W., and M.W. Visualization: L.B. Supervision: L.B. Project administration: L.B. Funding acquisition: L.B. and H.-R.W.

Competing interests:

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Data, code, and materials availability:

All data and code needed to evaluate and reproduce the results in the paper are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Materials. This study did not generate new materials. Crystallographic data (CCDC 2533506) are available as Supplementary Materials and can be obtained free of charge from The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre via www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/data_request/cif.

Supplementary Materials

This PDF file includes:

Table S1

Figs. S1 to S8

CIF (Crystallographic Information File)

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