Account for the fact that hydrogen occupies tetrahedral holes while carbon occupies octahedral holes — Solid State Chemistry Question

💡 Solution & Explanation

Tetrahedral voids are smaller in size (radius ratio r_void/R_host = 0.225) compared to octahedral voids (radius ratio r_void/R_host = 0.414). Since the atomic radius of hydrogen is smaller than that of carbon (r_H < r_C), hydrogen fits into the smaller tetrahedral voids while carbon fits into the larger octahedral voids.