With the exception of lithium, alkali metals do not react with elemental nitrogen either at ambient conditions or at elevated temperatures, requiring the search for alternative synthetic routes to their nitrogen-containing compounds. Here using a controlled decomposition of sodium azide (NaN3) at high pressure conditions, we synthesize two novel compounds, Na-3(N-2)(4) and NaN2, both containing dinitrogen anions. NaN2 synthesized at 4 GPa might be the common intermediate in high-pressure solid-state metathesis reactions, where NaN3 is used as a source of nitrogen, while Na-3(N-2)(4) opens a new class of compounds, where [N-2] units accommodate a noninteger formal charge of 0.75-. This finding can dramatically extend the expected compositions in other group 1 and 2 metal-nitrogen systems. Electronic structure calculations show the metallic character for both compounds.

Alkaline earth metal peroxides are typical examples of ionic compounds containing polyanions. We herein report a stable BaO2 phase at high pressure up to 130 GPa found via a first-principles computational structure search and high-pressure experimental investigations. The identified monoclinic structure (space group C2/m) can be derived by sublattice distortions of Ba atoms and peroxide groups associated with the phonon mode softening of the lower-pressure Cmmm structure. Contrary to the previous expectation of polymerization of the peroxide group at elevated pressure, this phase retains the peroxide group and, interestingly, exhibits an insulating behavior demonstrating an increase of the band gap under compression. Our synchrotron x-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements could not distinguish between Cmmm and C2/m BaO2 definitively because the difference in XRD patterns is very subtle. However, our data do not show any sign of polymerization transition up to 120 GPa. Raman spectra of the O-O peroxide vibration show a small anomaly in frequency at 110 GPa, which is qualitatively like that predicted theoretically due to the Cmmm to C2/m phase transition, thus supporting the predicted transformation.

The ultrafast synthesis of epsilon-Fe3N1+x in a diamond-anvil cell (DAC) from Fe and N-2 under pressure was observed using serial exposures of an X-ray free electron laser (XFEL). When the sample at 5 GPa was irradiated by a pulse train separated by 443 ns, the estimated sample temperature at the delay time was above 1400 K, confirmed by in situ transformation of alpha- to gamma-iron. Ultimately, the Fe and N-2 reacted uniformly throughout the beam path to form Fe3N1.33, as deduced from its established equation of state (EOS). We thus demonstrate that the activation energy provided by intense X-ray exposures in an XFEL can be coupled with the source time structure to enable exploration of the time-dependence of reactions under high-pressure conditions.

Earth's lowermost mantle displays complex geological phenomena that likely result from its heterogeneous physical interaction with the core. Geophysical models of core-mantle interaction rely on the thermal and electrical conductivities of appropriate geomaterials which, however, have never been probed at representative pressure and temperature (P-T) conditions. Here we report on the opacity of single crystalline bridgmanite and ferropericlase and link it to their radiative and electrical conductivities. Our results show that light absorption in the visible spectral range is enhanced upon heating in both minerals but the rate of change in opacity with temperature is a factor of six higher in ferropericlase. As a result, bridgmanite in the lowermost mantle is moderately transparent while ferropericlase is highly opaque. Our measurements support previous indirect estimates of low (< 1 W/m/K) and largely temperature-independent radiative conductivity in the lowermost mantle. This implies that the radiative mechanism has not contributed significantly to cooling the Earth's core throughout the geologic time. Opaque ferropericlase is electrically conducting and mediates strong core-mantle electromagnetic coupling, explaining the intradecadal oscillations in the length of day, low secular geomagnetic variations in Central Pacific, and the preferred paths of geomagnetic pole reversals. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We synthesized two C-S-H compounds from a mixture of carbon and sulfur in hydrogen-C : (H2S)(2)H-2 and from sulfur in mixed methane-hydrogen fluids-(CH4)(x)(H2S)((2-x))H-2 at 4 GPa. X-ray synchrotron single-crystal diffraction and Raman spectroscopy have been applied to these samples up to 58 and 143 GPa, respectively. Both samples show a similar Al-2 Cu-type I4/mcm basic symmetry, while the hydrogen subsystem evolves with pressure via variously ordered molecular and extended modifications. The methane-bearing sample lowers symmetry to an orthorhombic Pnma structure after laser heating to 1400 K at 143 GPa. The results suggest that C-S-H compounds are structurally different from a common Im-3m H3S.

Earth's core is composed of iron (Fe) alloyed with light elements, e.g., silicon (Si). Its thermal conductivity critically affects Earth's thermal structure, evolution, and dynamics, as it controls the magnitude of thermal and compositional sources required to sustain a geodynamo over Earth's history. Here we directly measured thermal conductivities of solid Fe and Fe-Si alloys up to 144GPa and 3300K. 15 at% Si alloyed in Fe substantially reduces its conductivity by about 2 folds at 132GPa and 3000K. An outer core with 15 at% Si would have a conductivity of about 20Wm(-1) K-1, lower than pure Fe at similar pressure-temperature conditions. This suggests a lower minimum heat flow, around 3 TW, across the core-mantle boundary than previously expected, and thus less thermal energy needed to operate the geodynamo. Our results provide key constraints on inner core age that could be older than two billion-years. Thermal conductivity of Earth's core affects Earth's thermal structure, evolution and dynamics. Based on thermal conductivity measurements of iron-silicon alloys at high pressure and temperature conditions, the authors here propose Earth's inner core could be older than previously expected.

The synthesis of polynitrogen compounds is of great importance due to their potential as high-energy-density materials (HEDM), but because of the intrinsic instability of these compounds, their synthesis and stabilization is a fundamental challenge. Polymeric nitrogen units which may be stabilized in compounds with metals at high pressure are now restricted to non-branched chains with an average N-N bond order of 1.25, limiting their HEDM performances. Herein, we demonstrate the synthesis of a novel polynitrogen compound TaN5 via a direct reaction between tantalum and nitrogen in a diamond anvil cell at circa 100 GPa. TaN5 is the first example of a material containing branched all-single-bonded nitrogen chains [N-5(5-)](infinity). Apart from that we discover two novel Ta-N compounds: TaN4 with finite N-4(4-) chains and the incommensurately modulated compound TaN2-x, which is recoverable at ambient conditions.

Following the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in the La-H system, we studied the formation of new chemical compounds in the barium-hydrogen system at pressures from 75 to 173GPa. Using in situ generation of hydrogen from NH3BH3, we synthesized previously unknown superhydride BaH12 with a pseudocubic (fcc) Ba sublattice in four independent experiments. Density functional theory calculations indicate close agreement between the theoretical and experimental equations of state. In addition, we identified previously known P6/mmm-BaH2 and possibly BaH10 and BaH6 as impurities in the samples. Ab initio calculations show that newly discovered semimetallic BaH12 contains H-2 and H-3(-) molecular units and detached H-12 chains which are formed as a result of a Peierls-type distortion of the cubic cage structure. Barium dodecahydride is a unique molecular hydride with metallic conductivity that demonstrates the superconducting transition around 20K at 140GPa. Metallization of pure hydrogen via overlapping of electronic bands requires high pressure above 3 Mbar. Here the authors study the Ba-H system and discover a unique superhydride BaH12 that contains molecular hydrogen, which demonstrates metallic properties and superconductivity below 1.5 Mbar.

Carbon-bearing phases show a rich variety of structural transitions as an adaptation to pressure. Of particular interest is the crossover from sp(2) carbon to sp(3) carbon, as physical and chemical properties of carbon in these distinct electronic configurations are very different. In this chapter we review pressure-induced sp(2)-sp(3) transitions in elemental carbon, carbonates, and hydrocarbons.

The application of pressure has been speculated to boost the search for high-temperature superconductors, especially in superhydrides. However, the applied pressure as high as hundreds of GPa needed to create superconductivity in those materials limits their technological application. Finding a route to achieve the high-temperature superconductivity at near-ambient conditions is attractive. By choosing a phase-change alloy Ge2Sb2Te5, we study the phase evolution of this material with pressure from the trigonal phase through the amorphous to the body-centered cubic one by the measurements of x-ray diffraction, Raman scattering, resistivity, and Hall coefficient. Superconductivity is observed to take place in the last two phases and can maintain at nearly ambient pressure in the decompression run. Pressure-induced disorder is found to be the key for holding superconductivity in the compressed phase-change alloy.