Diamond, as the hardest known material, has been widely used in industrial applications as abrasives, coatings, and cutting and polishing tools, but it is restricted by several shortcomings, e.g., its low thermal and chemical stability. Considerable efforts have been devoted to designing or synthesizing the diamond-like B-C-N-O compounds, which exhibit excellent mechanical property. In this paper, we review the recent theoretical design of diamond-like superhard structures at high pressure. In particular, the recently designed high symmetric phase of low-energy cubic BC3 meets the experimental observation, and clarifies the actual existence of cubic symmetric phase for the compounds formed by B-C-N-O system, besides the classical example of cubic boron nitride.
This article summarizes the developments of experimental techniques for high pressure x-ray diffraction (XRD) in diamond anvil cells (DACs) using synchrotron radiation. Basic principles and experimental methods for various diffraction geometry are described, including powder diffraction, single crystal diffraction, radial diffraction, as well as coupling with laser heating system. Resolution in d-spacing of different diffraction modes is discussed. More recent progress, such as extended application of single crystal diffraction for measurements of multigrain and electron density distribution, time-resolved diffraction with dynamic DAC and development of modulated heating techniques are briefly introduced. The current status of the high pressure beamline at BSRF (Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility) and some results are also presented.
Recently, the high pressure study on the TiO2 nanomaterials has attracted considerable attention due to the typical crystal structure and the fascinating properties of TiO2 with nanoscale sizes. In this paper, we briefly review the recent progress in the high pressure phase transitions of TiO2 nanomaterials. We discuss the size effects and morphology effects on the high pressure phase transitions of TiO2 nanomaterials with different particle sizes, morphologies, and microstructures. Several typical pressure-induced structural phase transitions in TiO2 nanomaterials are presented, including size-dependent phase transition selectivity in nanoparticles, morphology-tuned phase transition in nanowires, nanosheets, and nanoporous materials, and pressure-induced amorphization (PIA) and polyamorphism in ultrafine nanoparticles and TiO2-B nanoribbons. Various TiO2 nanostructural materials with high pressure structures are prepared successfully by high pressure treatment of the corresponding crystal nanomaterials, such as amorphous TiO2 nanoribbons, α -PbO2-type TiO2 nanowires, nanosheets, and nanoporous materials. These studies suggest that the high pressure phase transitions of TiO2 nanomaterials depend on the nanosize, morphology, interface energy, and microstructure. The diversity of high pressure behaviors of TiO2 nanomaterials provides a new insight into the properties of nanomaterials, and paves a way for preparing new nanomaterials with novel high pressure structures and properties for various applications.
Research on the melting phenomenon is the most challenging work in the high pressure/temperature field. Until now, large discrepancies still exist in the melting curve of iron, the most interesting and extensively studied element in geoscience research. Here we present a summary about techniques detecting melting in the laser heating diamond anvil cell.
The unreacted equation of state (EOS) of energetic materials is an important thermodynamic relationship to characterize their high pressure behaviors and has practical importance. The previous experimental and theoretical works on the equation of state of several energetic materials including nitromethane, 1,3,5-trinitrohexahydro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX), 1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazacyclooctane (HMX), hexanitrostilbene (HNS), hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane (HNIW or CL-20), pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), 2,6-diamino-3,5-dinitropyrazine-1-oxide (LLM-105), triamino-trinitrobenzene (TATB), 1,1-diamino-2,2-dinitroethene (DADNE or FOX-7), and trinitrotoluene (TNT) are reviewed in this paper. The EOS determined from hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic compressions are discussed and compared. The theoretical results based on ab initio calculations are summarized and compared with the experimental data.
In this review article, we give a brief overview of heavy fermions, which are prototype examples of strongly correlated electron systems. We introduce the application of physical pressure in heavy fermion systems to construct their pressure phase diagrams and to study the close relationship between superconductivity (SC) and other electronic instabilities, such as antiferromagnetism (AFM), ferromagnetism (FM), and valence transitions. Field-angle dependent heat capacity and point-contact spectroscopic measurements under pressure are taken as examples to illustrate their ability to investigate novel physical properties of the emergent electronic states.
The A-site ordered perovskite oxides with chemical formula AA3'B4O12 display many intriguing physical properties due to the introduction of transition metals at both A' and B sites. Here, research on the recently discovered intermetallic charge transfer occurring between A'-site Cu and B-site Fe ions in LaCu3Fe4O12 and its analogues is reviewed, along with work on the magnetoelectric multiferroicity observed in LaMn3Cr4O12 with cubic perovskite structure. The Cu-Fe intermetallic charge transfer (LaCuLaCu33+Fe43+O12→LaCu32+Fe43.75+O12) leads to a first-order isostructural phase transition accompanied by drastic variations in magnetism and electrical transport properties. The LaMn3Cr4O12 is a novel spindriven multiferroic system with strong magnetoelectric coupling effects. The compound is the first example of cubic perovskite multiferroics to be found. It opens up a new arena for studying unexpected multiferroic mechanisms.
