Phase transitions in ruthenium dioxide up to 40 GPa: Mechanism for the rutile-to-fluorite phase transformation and a model for the high-pressure behavior of stishovite SiO2

Stable reconstruction of the (110) surface and its role in pseudocapacitance of rutile-like RuO2

Surfaces of rutile-like RuO₂, especially the most stable (110) surface, are important for catalysis, sensing and charge storage applications. Structure, chemical composition, and properties of the surface depend on external conditions. Using the evolutionary prediction method USPEX, we found stable reconstructions of the (110) surface. Two stable reconstructions, RuO₄-(2 × 1) and RuO₂-(1 × 1), were found, and the surface phase diagram was determined. The new RuO₄-(2 × 1) reconstruction is stable in a wide range of environmental conditions, its simulated STM image perfectly matches experimental data, it is more thermodynamically stable than previously proposed reconstructions, and explains well pseudocapacitance of RuO₂ cathodes.

Pressure-induced phase transition in CrO2

The ab initio constant pressure molecular dynamics technique and density functional theory with generalized gradient approximation (GGA) was used to study the pressure-induced phase transition of CrO2. The phase transition of the rutile (P42/mnm) to the orthorhombic CaCl2 (Pnnm) structure at 30 GPa was determined successfully in a constant pressure simulation. This phase transition was analyzed from total energy calculations and, from the enthalpy calculation, occurred at around 17 GPa. Structural properties such as bulk modules, lattice parameters and phase transition were compared with experimental results. The phase transition at 12 ± 3 GPa was in good agreement with experimental results, as was the phase transition from the orthorhombic CaCl2 (Pnnm) to the monoclinic (P21/c) structure also found at 35 GPa.

Identifying potential BO2 oxide polymorphs for epitaxial growth candidates

Transition metal dioxides (BO2) exhibit a number of polymorphic structures with distinct properties, but the isolation of different polymorphs for a given composition is carried out using trial and error experimentation. We present computational studies of the relative stabilities and equations of state for six polymorphs (anatase, brookite, rutile, columbite, pyrite, and fluorite) of five different BO2 dioxides (B = Ti, V, Ru, Ir, and Sn). These properties were computed in a consistent fashion using several exchange correlation functionals within the density functional theory formalism, and the effects of the different functionals are discussed relative to their impact on predictive synthesis. We compare the computational results to prior observations of high-pressure synthesis and epitaxial film growth and then use this discussion to predict new accessible polymorphs in the context of epitaxial stabilization using isostructural substrates. For example, the relative stabilities of the columbite polymorph for VO2 and RuO2 are similar to those of TiO2 and SnO2, the latter two of which have been previously stabilized as epitaxial films.

Cationic radii from structures of extremely compressed solids

The cationic radii of metals are derived from the compressibility of solids assuming that extreme compression of metals leads to direct contacts between cations (= atomic cores). In an extremely compressed binary compound the heteronuclear separations are equal to the sum of the cationic radius of the metal and the covalent radius of the nonmetal.

Reduction of the bulk modulus at high pressure in CrN

Nitride coatings are increasingly demanded in the cutting- and machining-tool industry owing to their hardness, thermal stability and resistance to corrosion. These properties derive from strongly covalent bonds; understanding the bonding is a requirement for the design of superhard materials with improved capabilities. Here, we report a pressure-induced cubic-to-orthorhombic transition at approximately 1 GPa in CrN. High-pressure X-ray diffraction and ab initio calculations show an unexpected reduction of the bulk modulus, K0, of about 25% in the high-pressure (lower volume) phase. Our combined theoretical and experimental approach shows that this effect is the result of a large exchange striction due to the approach of the localized Cr:t3 electrons to becoming molecular-orbital electrons in Cr-Cr bonds. The softening of CrN under pressure is a manifestation of a strong competition between different types of chemical bond that are found at a crossover from a localized to a molecular-orbital electronic transition.

Transition to a virtually incompressible oxide phase at a shock pressure of 120 GPa (1.2 Mbar): Gd3Ga5O12

Cubic, single-crystal, transparent Gd(3)Ga(5)O(12) has a density of 7.10 g/cm(3), a Hugoniot elastic limit of 30 GPa, and undergoes a continuous phase transition from 65 GPa to a quasi-incompressible (QI) phase at 120 GPa. Only diamond has a larger Hugoniot elastic limit. The QI phase of is more incompressible than diamond from 170 to 260 GPa. Electrical conductivity measurements indicate the QI phase has a band gap of 3.1 eV. Gd(3)Ga(5)O(12) can be used to obtain substantially higher pressures and lower temperatures in metallic fluid hydrogen than was achieved previously by shock reverberation between Al(2)O(3) disks.