Elastic Properties of Nickel Carbides

The nickel -- carbon system has received increased attention over the past years due to the relevance of nickel as a catalyst for carbon nanotube growth and as a substrate for metal-induced crystallization of graphene and graphite.
Nickel carbides as bulk materials are out
of reach for experimental studies because of their meta-stability. Ab-initio studies are rare. We present our ab-initio -- frozen phonon results for the elastic properties of Ni₃C, Ni₂C and NiC.