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Novel chain structures in group VI elements

Nature Materials volume 4, pages 152–155 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Recent developments in high-pressure methods and advances in X-ray crystallography have led to a new level of understanding of phase diagrams and structures of materials under pressure. Recently discovered phenomena such as complex phases of alkali metals1,2, incommensurate host–guest structures3,4, and incommensurately modulated structures5,6 have rendered obsolete our conventional wisdom about the range of structures possible in the elements7. Using new in situ diffraction techniques, we have resolved the long-standing problem of the phase-transition sequence of sulphur in its non-metallic state. We demonstrate that it is very different from that previously proposed7,8, with only two phases stable between 1.5 GPa and 83 GPa (the pressure of metallization), and temperatures from 300 K to 1,100 K. The phases have a triangular chain and a squared chain structure. The same squared chain structure is found in the heavier group VI element selenium.

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Figure 1: Reaction and transformation diagram of sulphur.
Figure 2: In situ X-ray diffraction data.
Figure 3: Crystal structures of Se and S.
Figure 4: Pressure dependence of interatomic distances for S and Se.

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Acknowledgements

We thank V. F. Degtyareva for helpful discussions. This work and HPCAT is supported by DOE-BES, DOE-NNSA, DOD-TACOM, NSF, NASA and the W.M. Keck Foundation. The authors acknowledge financial support from NSF, through grant EAR-0217389. The Advanced Photon Source is supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract No. W-31-109-Eng-38.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5251 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, 20015, District of Columbia, USA

    Olga Degtyareva, Eugene Gregoryanz, Przemyslaw Dera, Ho-kwang Mao & Russell J. Hemley

  2. HPCAT, Carnegie Institution of Washington, APS, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, 60439, Illinois, USA

    Maddury Somayazulu

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  1. Olga Degtyareva
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Correspondence to Olga Degtyareva.

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Degtyareva, O., Gregoryanz, E., Somayazulu, M. et al. Novel chain structures in group VI elements. Nature Mater 4, 152–155 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1294

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