High pressure synthesis of marcasite-type rhodium pernitride.

Marcasite-type rhodium nitride was successfully synthesized in a direct chemical reaction between a rhodium metal and molecular nitrogen at 43.2 GPa using a laser-heated diamond-anvil cell. This material shows a low zero-pressure bulk modulus of K0 = 235(13) GPa, which is much lower than those of other platinum group nitrides. This finding is due to the weaker bonding interaction between metal atoms and quasi-molecular dinitrogen units in the marcasite-type structure, as proposed by theoretical studies.

Possible superhardness of CrB4.

Chromium tetraboride [orthorhombic, space group Pnnm (No. 58), a = 474.65(9) pm, b = 548.0(1) pm, c = 286.81(5) pm, and R value (all data) = 0.041], formerly described in space group Immm, was found not to be superhard, despite several theory-based prognoses. CrB(4) shows an almost temperature-independent paramagnetism, consistent with low-spin Cr(I) in a metallic compound. Conductivity measurements confirm the metallic character.

Pressure-induced decomposition of indium hydroxide.

A static pressure-induced decomposition of indium hydroxide into metallic indium that takes place at ambient temperature is reported. The lattice parameter of c-In(OH)(3) decreased upon compression from 7.977(2) to approximately 7.45 A at 34 GPa, corresponding to a decrease in specific volume of approximately 18%. Fitting the second-order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state to the obtained compression data gave a bulk modulus of 99 +/- 3 GPa for c-In(OH)(3). The c-In(OH)(3) crystals with a size of approximately 100 nm are comminuted upon compression, as indicated by the grain-size reduction reflected in broadening of the diffraction reflections and the appearance of smaller (approximately 5 nm) incoherently oriented domains in TEM. The rapid decompression of compressed c-In(OH)(3) leads to partial decomposition of indium hydroxide into metallic indium, mainly as a result of localized stress gradients caused by relaxation of the highly disordered indium sublattice in indium hydroxide. This partial decomposition of indium hydroxide into metallic indium is irreversible, as confirmed by angle-dispersive X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy imaging, Raman scattering, and FTIR spectroscopy. Recovered c-In(OH)(3) samples become completely black and nontransparent and show typical features of metals, i.e., a falling absorption in the 100-250 cm(-1) region accompanied by a featureless spectrum in the 250-2500 cm(-1) region in the Raman spectrum and Drude-like absorption of free electrons in the region of 4000-8000 cm(-1) in the FTIR spectrum. These features were not observed in the initial c-In(OH)(3), which is a typical white wide-band-gap semiconductor.