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1. Experimental and Computational Studies on Superhard Material Rhenium Diboride under Ultrahigh Pressures

   https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13071657  

   Burrage, Kaleb C. ; Lin, Chia-Min ; Chen, Wei-Chih ; Chen, Cheng-Chien ; Vohra, Yogesh K. ( April 2020 , Materials)

   An emerging class of superhard materials for extreme environment applications are compounds formed by heavy transition metals with light elements. In this work, ultrahigh pressure experiments on transition metal rhenium diboride (ReB2) were carried out in a diamond anvil cell under isothermal and non-hydrostatic compression. Two independent high-pressure experiments were carried out on ReB2 for the first time up to a pressure of 241 GPa (volume compression V/V0 = 0.731 ± 0.004), with platinum as an internal pressure standard in X-ray diffraction studies. The hexagonal phase of ReB2 was stable under highest pressure, and the anisotropy between the a-axis and c-axis compression increases with pressure to 241 GPa. The measured equation of state (EOS) above the yield stress of ReB2 is well represented by the bulk modulus K0 = 364 GPa and its first pressure derivative K0´ = 3.53. Corresponding density-functional-theory (DFT) simulations of the EOS and elastic constants agreed well with the experimental data. DFT results indicated that ReB2 becomes more ductile with enhanced tendency towards metallic bonding under compression. The DFT results also showed strong crystal anisotropy up to the maximum pressure under study. The pressure-enhanced electron density distribution along the Re and B bond direction renders themore »material highly incompressible along the c-axis. Our study helps to establish the fundamental basis for anisotropic compression of ReB2 under ultrahigh pressures.« less
2. Theoretical and experimental studies of compression and shear deformation behavior of Osmium to 280 GPa

   https://doi.org/10.1088/2631-8695/ac34c4  

   Lin, Chia Min ; Burrage, Kaleb C ; Perreault, Chris ; Chen, Wei-Chih ; Chen, Cheng-Chien ; Vohra, Yogesh K ( October 2021 , Engineering Research Express)

   Abstract The compression behavior of osmium metal was investigated up to 280 GPa (volume compression V/Vo =0.725) under nonhydrostatic conditions at ambient temperature using angle dispersive axial x-ray diffraction (A-XRD) with a diamond anvil cell (DAC). In addition, shear strength of osmium was measured to 170 GPa using radial x-ray diffraction (R-XRD) technique in DAC. Both diffraction techniques in DAC employed platinum as an internal pressure standard. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were also performed, and the computed lattice parameters and volumes under compression are in good agreement with the experiments. DFT predicts a monotonous increase in axial ratio (c/a) with pressure and the structural anomalies of less than 1 % in (c/a) ratio below 150 GPa were not reproduced in theoretical calculations and hydrostatic measurements. The measured value of shear strength of osmium (τ) approaches a limiting value of 6 GPa above a pressure of 50 GPa in contrast to theoretical predictions of 24 GPa and is likely due to imperfections in polycrystalline samples. DFT calculations also enable the studies of shear and tensile deformations. The theoretical ideal shear stress is found along the (001)[1-10] shear direction with the maximal shear stress ~24 GPa at critical strain ~0.13.
3. Electronic structure and anisotropic compression of OS2B3 to 358 GPa

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648X/ab9ae9  

   Burrage, Kaleb C ; Lin, Chia Min ; Chen, Wei-Chih ; Chen, Cheng-Chien ; Vohra, Yogesh K ( June 2020 , Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter)

   High pressure study on ultra-hard transition-metal boride Os2B3 was carried out in a diamond anvil cell under isothermal and non-hydrostatic compression with platinum as an X-ray pressure standard. The ambient-pressure hexagonal phase of Os2B3 is found to be stable with a volume compression V/V0 = 0.670 ± 0.009 at the maximum pressure of 358 ± 7 GPa. Anisotropic compression behavior is observed in Os2B3 to the highest pressure, with the c-axis being the least compressible. The measured equation of state using the 3rd-order Birch-Murnaghan fit reveals a bulk modulus K0= 397 GPa and its first pressure derivative K0'= 4.0. The experimental lattice parameters and bulk modulus at ambient conditions also agree well with our density-functional-theory (DFT) calculations within an error margin of ~1%. DFT results indicate that Os2B3 becomes more ductile under compression, with a strong anisotropy in the axial bulk modulus persisting to the highest pressure. DFT further enables the studies of charge distribution and electronic structure at high pressure. The pressure-enhanced electron density and repulsion along the Os and B bonds result in a high incompressibility along the crystal c-axis. Our work helps to elucidate the fundamental properties of Os2B3 under ultrahigh pressure for potential applications in extrememore »environments.« less
4. A New High-Pressure Phase Transition in Natural Gedrite

   https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst9100521  

   Yong, Tommy ; Bina, Craig R. ; Finkelstein, Gregory J. ; Zhang, Dongzhou ; Dera, Przemyslaw ( October 2019 , Crystals)

   High-pressure diamond-anvil cell synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments were conducted on single-crystal samples of natural orthoamphibole; gedrite; with composition; (K0.002Na0.394)(Mg2)(Mg1.637Fe2.245Mn0.004Ca0.022Cr0.003Na0.037Al1.052)(Si6.517Al1.483)O22(OH)2. The samples were compressed at 298 K up to a maximum pressure of 27(1) GPa. In this pressure regime, we observed a displacive phase transition between 15.1(7) and 21(1) GPa from the orthorhombic Pnma phase to a new structure with space group P21/m; which is different from the familiar P21/m structure of cummingtonite and retains the (+, +, −, −) I-beam stacking sequence of the orthorhombic structure. The unit cell parameters for the new phase at 21(1) GPa are a = 17.514(3), b = 17.077(1), c = 4.9907(2) Å and β = 92.882(6)°. The high-pressure P21/m phase is the first amphibole structure to show the existence of four crystallographically distinct silicate double chains. The orthorhombic to monoclinic phase transition is characterized by an increase in the degree of kinking of the double silicate chains and is analogous to displacive phase changes recently reported in orthopyroxenes, highlighting the parallel structural relations and phase transformation behavior of orthorhombic single- and double-chain silicates.
5. Experimental Measurements and Molecular Simulation of Carbon Dioxide Adsorption on Carbon Surface

   https://doi.org/10.2118/210264-MS  

   Gomaa, Ibrahim ; Guerrero, Javier ; Heidari, Zoya ; Espinoza, D. Nicolas ( September 2022 , 2022 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition)

   Geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) in depleted gas reservoirs represents a cost-effective solution to mitigate global carbon emissions. The surface chemistry of the reservoir rock, pressure, temperature, and moisture content are critical factors that determine the CO2 adsorption capacity and storage mechanisms. Shale-gas reservoirs are good candidates for this application. However, the interactions of CO2 and organic content still need further investigation. The objectives of this paper are to (i) experimentally investigate the effect of pressure and temperature on the CO2 adsorption capacity of activated carbon, (ii) quantify the nanoscale interfacial interactions between CO2 and the activated carbon surface using Monte Carlo molecular modeling, and (iii) quantify the correlation between the adsorption isotherms of activated carbon-CO2 system and the actual carbon dioxide adsorption on shale-gas rock at different temperatures and geochemical conditions. Activated carbon is used as a proxy for kerogen. The objectives aim at obtaining a better understanding of the behavior of CO2 injection and storage into shale-gas formations.

   We performed experimental measurements and Grand Canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations of CO2 adsorption onto activated carbon. The experimental work involved measurements of the high-pressure adsorption capacity of activated carbon using pure CO2 gas. Subsequently, we performed amore »series of GCMC simulations to calculate CO2 adsorption capacity on activated carbon to validate the experimental results. The simulated activated carbon structure consists of graphite sheets with a distance between the sheets equal to the average actual pore size of the activated carbon sample. Adsorption isotherms were calculated and modeled for each temperature value at various pressures.

   The adsorption of CO2 on activated carbon is favorable from the energy and kinetic point of view. This is due to the presence of a wide micro to meso pore sizes that can accommodate a large amount of CO2 particles. The results of the experimental work show that excess adsorption results for gas mixtures lie in between the results for pure components. The simulation results agree with the experimental measurements. The strength of CO2 adsorption depends on both surface chemistry and pore size of activated carbon. Once strong adsorption sites within nanoscale network are established, gas adsorption even at very low pressure is governed by pore width rather than chemical composition. The outcomes of this paper provides new insights about the parameters affecting CO2 adsorption and storage in shale-gas reservoirs, which is critical for developing standalone representative models for CO2 adsorption on pure organic carbon.

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