High pressure chemical reactivity and structural study of the Na-P and Li-P systems

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-7-2020

Department

Department of Physics

Abstract

The Na-P and Li-P chemical systems were studied under pressure using synchrotron X-ray diffraction in a diamond anvil cell up to 20 GPa, combined with the AIRSS ab initio random structure searching technique. The results reveal an enhanced reactivity of both alkali metals with phosphorous at slightly elevated pressures. This enables the synthesis of Li3P and Na3P at room temperature (RT) starting from element precursors, bypassing the established chemical synthesis methods. Both compounds undergo a pressure-induced phase transition from the hexagonal Na3As-type structure (stable at ambient conditions) towards a Fm3m (FCC) structure that remains stable up to 20 GPa. Attempts to synthesize compounds with higher alkali metal content (such as Li5P) using high-temperature and -pressure conditions (up to 2000+ K and 30 GPa), inspired by recent theoretical predictions, were not successful. This journal is

Publisher's Statement

© The Royal Society of Chemistry. Publisher’s version of record: https://doi.org/10.1039/d0ta08563d

Publication Title

Journal of Materials Chemistry A

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