Pressure-induced structural phase transition in RbAu

Using the first principle method based on density functional theory, the structural and elastic properties calculations of RbAu have been performed. The results demonstrate that RbAu is stable in the CsCl structure (B2) at ambient pressure, which is in well agreement with the experimental results. And there exists a structural phase transition from CsCl-type structure (B2) to NaTi-type structure (B32) at the transition pressure of approximate 6 GPa. The pressure effects on the elastic properties are discussed and the elastic property calculation indicates elastic instability maybe provide phase transition driving force according to the variations relation of the elastic constant versus pressure.     

Theoretical investigation on structural, magnetic and electronic properties of ferromagnetic GdN under pressure

The tight-binding linear muffin tin orbital (TB-LMTO) method within the local density approximation is used to calculate structural, electronic and magnetic properties of GdN under pressure. Both nonmagnetic (NM) and magnetic calculations are performed. The structural and magnetic stabilities are determined from the total energy calculations. The magnetic to ferromagnetic (FM) transition is not calculated. Magnetically, GdN is stable in the FM state, while its ambient structure is found to be stable in the NaCl-type (B₁) structure. We predict NaCl-type to CsCl-type structure phase transition in GdN at a pressure of 30.4 GPa. In a complete spin of FM GdN the electronic band picture of one spin shows metallic, while the other spin shows its semiconducting behavior, resulting in half-metallic behavior at both ambient and high pressures. We have, therefore, calculated electronic band structures, equilibrium lattice constants, cohesive energies, bulk moduli and magnetic moments for GdN in the B₁ and B₂ phases. The magnetic moment, equilibrium lattice parameter and bulk modulus is calculated to be 6.99 μ_B, 4.935 Å and 192.13 GPa, respectively, which are in good agreement with the experimental results.     

高压下RhB的相变、弹性性质、电子结构及硬度的第一性原理计算

采用密度泛函理论中的赝势平面波方法系统地研究了高压下RhB的结构相变、弹性性质、电子结构和硬度.分析表明,RhB在25.3 GPa时从anti-NiAs结构相变到FeB结构,这两种结构的弹性常数、体弹模量、剪切模量、杨氏模量和弹性各向异性因子的外压力效应明显.电子态密度的计算结果显示,这两种结构是金属性的,且费米能级附近的峰随着压强的增大向两侧移动,赝能隙变宽,轨道杂化增强,共价性增强,非局域化更加明显.此外,硬度计算结果显示,anti-NiAs-RhB的金属性比较弱,有着较高的硬度,属于硬质材料.     

Volume and structural study of Fe64Mn36 anti-ferromagnetic Invar alloy under high pressure

We have investigated the pressure variation of the volume and structure of an FCC Fe₆₄Mn₃₆ anti-ferromagnetic Invar alloy. The inclination of the pressure-volume (P-V) curve of the FCC structure becomes discontinuous at a pressure of 4 GPa. According to the bulk modulus at zero pressure estimated by the Birch-Murnaghan equation of state, the pressure between 4 and 10 GPa is 33 GPa larger than that at a pressure below 4 GPa. Considering previous experiments on magnetism at high pressure the Neel temperature at 4 GPa almost decreases to room temperature. These results suggest that the increase in the bulk modulus by 33 GPa can be attributed to the pressure-induced magnetic phase transition from anti-ferromagnetism to paramagnetism. Volume at zero pressure was estimated using the Birch-Murnaghan equation of state. The volume of FCC structure in the anti-ferromagnetic state was 1.17% larger than the volume in the paramagnetic state, namely, the spontaneous magnetostriction was 1.17%. Pressure-induced structural transition from FCC to HCP occurs with an increase in the pressure, especially at up to 5 GPa. The value of c/a is 1.62; this value almost corresponds to that of an ideal HCP structure. The bulk modulus of the HCP structure estimated by the Birch-Murnaghan equation of state is larger than that of the FCC structure, and the volume/atom ratio is smaller than that of the FCC structure.     

In situ observations of temperature- and pressure-induced phase transitions in TiH2: Angle-dispersive and synchrotron energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction studies

We investigated the behavior of the structure of titanium hydride (TiH₂), an important compound in hydrogen storage research, at elevated temperatures (0-120 °C) and high pressures (1 bar-34 GPa). Temperature-induced changes of TiH₂ as indicated in the alteration of the ambient X-ray demonstrated a cubic to tetragonal phase transition occurring at about 17 °C. The main focus of this study was to identify any pressure-induced structural transformations, including possible phase transitions, in TiH₂. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction studies were carried out in situ (diamond anvil cell) in a compression sequence up to 34 GPa and in subsequent decompression to ambient pressure. The pressure evolution of the diffraction patterns revealed a cubic (Fm-3m) to tetragonal (I4/mmm) phase transition at 2.2 GPa. The high-pressure phase persisted up to 34 GPa. After decompression to ambient conditions the observed phase transition was completely reversible. A Birch-Murnaghan fit of the unit cell volume as a function of pressure yielded a zero-pressure bulk modulus K₀=146(14) GPa, and its pressure derivative K′₀=6(1) for the high-pressure tetragonal phase of TiH₂.     

First principles study of pressure induced structural phase transition in hydrogen storage material—MgH2

First principles calculation were performed using Vienna ab-initio simulation package within the frame work of density functional theory (DFT) to understand the electronic properties of magnesium hydride. At normal pressure, the most stable structure of MgH₂ is rutile type with a wide band gap of 3.52 eV, which agrees well with the available data. A pressure induced semi-conductor to metallic transition at a pressure of 92.54 GPa is predicted. Our results indicate a sequence of pressure induced structural phase transition in MgH₂. The obtained sequence of phase transition was α→γ→β→δ→ε at a pressure of 0.37 GPa, 3.89 GPa,7.23 GPa and 11.26 GPa, respectively. Thus our results indicate that MgH₂ is one of the best hydrogen storage material and the maximum storage capacity achieved was 7.7%.     

First-principles calculations of the structural, electronic, and optical properties of LiF up to 300 GPa

The structural, electronic, and optical properties of LiF are investigated at high pressures using the plane-wave pseudo-potential density functional method (DFT) within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). From the analysis of Gibbs free energies, we find that no phase transition takes place for LiF in the presented pressure range from 0 to 300 GPa. The result is consistent with the theoretical prediction obtained from the ab initio calculations [N.A. Smirnov, Phys. Rev. B 83 (2011) 014109] that the rock-salt structure is thermodynamically stable up to 1000 GPa. Meanwhile, good agreement between the calculated equation of state parameters and the experimental results is obtained, and a direct energy gap of 8.65 eV is estimated in the DFT-GGA for LiF with rock-salt structure. In addition, the dielectric function and optical properties such as reflectivity, absorption coefficient, and refractive index dependence of the photon energy from 0 to 50 eV and wavelength from 0 to 200 nm at different pressures are also calculated and analyzed. It is found that the rock-salt LiF is transparent from the partially ultra-violet to the visible light area and hardly is the transparence affected by the pressure. Furthermore, the curve of optical spectrum will shift to high energy area with increasing pressure.     

Magnetism and electronic properties of BiFeO3 under lower pressure

Ab initio calculations show an antiferromagnetic-ferromagnetic phase transition around 9-10 GPa and a magnetic anomaly at 12 GPa in BiFeO₃. The magnetic phase transition also involves a structural and insulator-metal transition. The G-type AFM configuration under pressure leads to an increase of the y component and a decrease of the z component of the magnetization, which is caused by the splitting of the d_z² orbital from doubly degenerate e_g states. Our results agree with the recent experimental results.     

Pressure-induced phase transitions in CaB6 by means of XRD and resistance measurement

High pressure behavior of CaB₆ with cubic crystal structure is investigated by means of energy dispersive X-ray diffraction and by employing in situ resistance measurement in a diamond anvil cell. Two newcome high pressure phase transitions are found with pressure ranging from ambient to 26 GPa. The first one at 12 GPa is a structural phase transition from CsCl-type structure to orthogonal structure, which is reflected by both the X-ray diffraction and the resistance variation. The other one at 3.7 GPa is suggested to be an electronic transition, which is observed only in resistance measurement. The diffraction pattern recovered while the pressure is released to 0 GPa with a pressure hysteresis over 11 GPa, which implies the reversibility of the two phase transitions. Bulk moduli of the cubic and orthogonal phases are estimated by fitting the data to a Brich-Murnaghan equation of state equal to 169.9 and 48.2 GPa, respectively.     

High-pressure phase transition of carbon disulfide

The high-pressure phase transition of CS₂ was studied by combing ab initio molecular dynamics with total energy calculations. At 300 K the pieces of polymer structure were found to appear at 10 GPa in the molecular dynamics run, and further the CS₄ tetrahedral structure to appear at about 20 GPa. The phase transition was then studied in the structure of Cmca, α-quartz and β-quartz by using the first-principle total energy calculation method. A phase transition from Cmca to β-quartz was found at 10.6 GPa. The calculated lattice constants of β-quartz at atmospheric pressure are a=5.44 and c/a=1.138 with B₀=95 GPa. The calculation has also indicated that CS₂ decomposes at 20 GPa and below 1000 K.     

Phase transition of cadmium fluoride under high pressure

We investigated the high pressure phases of CdF₂ by a joint theoretical and experimental study. The structural and electronic properties of CdF₂ were extensively explored to high pressure by ab initio calculations based on the density functional theory. A structural phase transition from the fluorite-type  (Fm-3m, Z=4) structure to the cotunnite-type (Pnma, Z=4) structure was estimated below 8 GPa, and this phase transition was examined by the high pressure experiments up to 35 GPa at room temperature. Both high pressure angle dispersive X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy experiments provided convincing evidence to verify the phase transition. Our work makes clear pressure-induced phase transitions and structural information of CdF₂ under high pressure.     

Theoretical investigation of the electronic structure and structural phase stability of CeGa2 under pressure

Recently, Chandra Shekar et al. (Phys. Stat. Sol. B 241(2004)2893), studied the structural stability of CeGa₂ under high pressure up to ∼32 GPa and reported a structural transition from hexagonal AlB₂-type to omega trigonal-type starting at ∼16 GPa with a volume collapse of ∼6%. The high-pressure omega triginal phase is found to coexist with the parent phase up to 32 GPa. In this paper, we report the results of our band structure calculations on this system as a function of reduced volume by the tight-binding linear muffin–tin orbital (TB-LMTO) method, in order to look into this structural transition and to understand it in terms of changes in its electronic structure. Our calculations indicate a structural transition at ∼30.6 GPa with a volume collapse of 3.5%, in good agreement with the experimental results. The possible mechanism of the phase transition may be due to f→d electron transfer under pressure. The theoretically calculated ground-state properties, namely the lattice parameters and the bulk modulus are also in good agreement with the experimental values.     

Pressure induced structural phase transition and electronic properties of actinide monophospides: Ab-initio calculations

We have investigated the structural and electronic properties of monophospides of thorium, uranium and neptunium. The total energy as a function of volume is obtained by means of the self-consistent tight binding linear muffin-tin-orbital (TB-LMTO) method within the local density approximation (LDA). From the present study with the help of total energy calculations it is found that ThP, UP and NpP are stable in NaCl-type structure at ambient pressure. The structural stability of ThP, UP and NpP changes under the application of pressure. We predict a structural phase transition from NaCl-type (B₁-phase) structure to CsCl-type (B₂-phase) structure for these phospides in the pressure range of 37.0-24.0 GPa (ThP-NpP). We also calculate lattice parameter (a₀), bulk modulus (B₀), band structure and density of states. From energy band diagram it is observed that ThP, UP and NpP exhibit metallic behavior. The calculated equilibrium lattice parameters and bulk modulus are in good agreement with experimental and theoretical work.     

Experimental constraints on the phase diagram of titanium metal

The phase transformations of titanium metal have been studied at temperatures and pressures up to 973 K and 8.7 GPa using synchrotron X-ray diffraction. The equilibrium phase boundary of the α-ω transition has a dT/dP slope of 345 K/GPa, and the transition pressure at room temperature is located at 5.7 GPa. The volume change across the α-ω transition is ΔV=0.197 cm³/mol, and the associated entropy change is ΔS=0.57 J/mol K. Except for ΔV, our results differ substantially from those of previous studies based on an equilibrium transition pressure of 2.0 GPa at room temperature. The α-ω-β triple point is estimated to be at 7.5 GPa and 913 K, which is comparable with previous results obtained from differential thermal analysis and resistometric measurements. An update, more accurate phase diagram is established for Ti metal based on the present observations and previous constraints on the α-β and ω-β phase boundaries.     

Structural phase transformation of GaN under high-pressure: an exact exchange study

The phase transformation of GaN under high pressure is theoretically studied in the KS-DFT framework using the EXX method. Both KLI and LDA pseudopotentials were tried. The LDA-PP result for the transition pressure is 41.7 GPa while that of the KLI-PP is 41.5 GPa. Both results are in a very good agreement with the latest experimental value of 42 GPa. The effect of the nonlinear core correction is found to be small but not negligible.     

High pressure structural phase transitions of PbPo

First-principles calculations have been performed to investigate the high pressure phase transitions and dynamical properties of the less known lead polonium compound. The calculated ground state parameters for the NaCl phase show good agreement with the experimental data. The obtained results show that the intermediate phase transition for this compound is the orthorhombic Pnma phase. The PbPo undergoes from the rocksalt to Pnma phase at 4.20 GPa. Further structural phase transition from intermediate to CsCl phase has been found at 8.5 GPa. In addition, phonon dispersion spectra were derived from linear-response to density functional theory. In particular, we show that the dynamical properties of PbPo exhibit some peculiar features compared to other III–V compounds. Finally, thermodynamics properties have been also addressed from quasiharmonic approximation.     

Experimental constraints on the phase diagram of elemental zirconium

The phase diagram of zirconium metal has been studied using synchrotron X-ray diffraction and time-of-flight neutron scattering at temperatures and pressures up to 1273 K and 17 GPa. The equilibrium phase boundary of the α-ω transition has a dT/dP slope of 473 K/GPa, and the extrapolated transition pressure at ambient temperature is located at 3.4 GPa. For the ω-β transition, the phase boundary has a negative dT/dP slope of 15.5 K/GPa between 6.4 and 15.3 GPa, which is substantially smaller than a previously reported value of −39±5 K/GPa in the pressure range of 32-35 GPa. This difference indicates a significant curvature of the phase boundary between 15.3 and 35 GPa. The α-ω-β triple point was estimated to be at 4.9 GPa and 953 K, which is comparable to previous results obtained from a differential thermal analysis. Except for the three known crystalline forms, the β phase of zirconium metal was found to possess an extraordinary glass forming ability at pressures between 6.4 and 8.6 GPa. This transformation leads to a limited stability field for the β phase in the pressure range of 6-16 GPa and to complications of high-temperature portion of phase diagram for zirconium metal.     

Magnetic and structural instabilities in the hexagonal Laves hydride ErMn2H4.6 under high-pressure

The structural and magnetic properties of ErMn₂H_4.6 have been studied by X-ray and neutron diffraction up to the pressures of 15 and 6 GPa, respectively. In the pressure range 0<P<3 GPa we observe a first-order phase transition to new high-pressure (HP) phase. The HP phase has the same hexagonal unit cell as the ambient-pressure phase but smaller lattice parameters (ΔV/V=−5%). The structural transition results in suppression of the long-range antiferromagnetic order. Our results suggest that pressure changes positions of the hydrogen atoms in the metal host. We speculate that the new arrangement of hydrogen atoms induces spin frustration and, therefore, suppresses long-range magnetic order in the HP phase.     

High pressure polymorph of CdS predicted by first principles

Ab initio phonon calculations on CdS are performed to probe the high pressure structural behaviors. We predicted an unstable transverse acoustic (TA) mode for NaCl-CdS (B1) and a phase transition of B1→Pmmn driven by this soft mode is thus identified, excluding probable high pressure Cmcm phase. Furthermore, a softening TA phonon mode at the zone boundary M point of CsCl-CdS (B2) is predicted, which results in the phase transition from Pmmn to tetrahedral P4/nmm (B10). Enthalpy calculation reveals that Pmmn phase becomes energetically more favorable than the B1 phase over 51.2 GPa, and B10 phase is stable in a pressure range of 80.3-85.5 GPa, above which B10 phase will decompose into Cd and S.     

Transition phase and thermodynamic properties of GaN via first-principles calculations

The transition phase of GaN from zincblende (ZB) structure to rocksalt structure (RS) is investigated by ab initio plane-wave pseudopotential density functional theory method, and the thermodynamic properties of the ZB and RS structures are obtained through the quasi-harmonic Debye model. We find that the transition phase from the ZB structure to the RS structure occurs at the pressure of 42.2 GPa, which is in good agreement with other calculated values. Moreover, the dependences of the relative volume V/V₀ on the pressure P, the Debye temperature Θ and heat capacity C_V on the pressure P, as well as the heat capacity C_V on the temperature T are also successfully obtained.