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EPSRC Reference: GR/S78704/01
Title: New solid-state chemistry among light element C-O-N compounds under extreme high P-T conditions
Principal Investigator: McMillan, Professor PF
Other Investigators:
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Department: Chemistry
Organisation: UCL
Scheme: Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 01 June 2004 Ends: 31 March 2005 Value (£): 286,794
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Chemical Structure Gas & Solution Phase Reactions
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
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Summary on Grant Application Form
The light elements C,O,N, etc. usually give rise to covalently-bonded molecular compounds, that are often gases at ambient conditions (e.g., COz, N2, N20). Recent research shows that these compounds polymerise or ionise to give new families of solid-state mineral-structured materials, when they are treated at high pressure (P>10 GPa) and high temperature. Preliminary reports indicate a quartz- or cristobalitestructured form of CO2 based on tetrahedral spa-bonded CO4 groups, and a calcitelaragonite form of NO N03 . We will explore formation of new solids at high P and T among compounds and mixtures of CO-C02-NO-N02-N20-N2-H20 materials, loaded into laser-heated diamond anvil cells, using a combination of laboratory spectroscopy and synchrotron X-ray diffraction. We will construct a laser-heating experiment at Daresbury SRS to carry out the diffraction studies, taking advantage of newly-available X-ray focusing optics currently being installed there. We will explore and establish recovery of the new high-pressure light element mineral solids , and investigate their materials properties, such as compressibility, hardness and optical properties. Two well-known light element materials synthesised at high-pressure/high-temperature and recovered to ambient conditions include the technologically-important super-hard solids diamond and cubic-BN. The research to discover and study new light element solids will open up a new area within solid state chemistry under extreme conditions , and it could lead to identification of technologically important materials.
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