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The formation of sp3 bonding in compressed BN

Nature Materials volume 3, pages 111–114 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Attributed to their specific atomic bonding, the soft, graphite-like, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) and its superhard, diamond-like, cubic polymorph (c-BN) are important technological materials with a wide range of applications1. At high pressure and temperature, h-BN can directly transform to a hexagonal close-packed polymorph (w-BN)2 that can be partially quenched after releasing pressure. Previous theoretical calculations3,4,5 and experimental measurements (primarily on quenched samples)6,7,8,9 provided substantial information on the transition, but left unsettled questions due to the lack of in situ characterization at high pressures. Using inelastic X-ray scattering to probe the boron and nitrogen near K-edge spectroscopy, here we report the first observation of the conversion process of boron and nitrogen sp2- and p-bonding to sp3 and the directional nature of the sp3 bonding. In combination with in situ X-ray diffraction probe, we have further clarified the structure transformation mechanism. The present archetypal example opens two enormous, element-specific, research areas on high-pressure bonding evolutions of boron and nitrogen; each of the two elements and their respective compounds have displayed a wealth of intriguing pressure-induced phenomena10 that result from bonding changes, including metallization11,12, superconductivity13,14, semiconductivity15, polymerization16 and superhardness2,17,18.

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Figure 1: Experimental set-up.
Figure 2: IXS B K-edge spectra of BN.
Figure 3: IXS N K-edge spectra of BN.
Figure 4: X-ray diffraction patterns of BN.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank GSECARS, HPCAT, APS and the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) for beam time and J. Hu for help with the x-ray diffraction experiment conducted at the beamline X17C of NSLS. Use of the HPCAT facility was supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE)-Basic Energy Sciences, DOE-National Nuclear Security Administration, NSF, Department of Defense-Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command, and the W.M. Keck Foundation.

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Author notes

  1. Thomas P. Trainor

    Present address: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, 99775, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. HPCAT, Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, 60439, Illinois, USA

    Yue Meng, Michael Y. Hu & Daniel Hausermann

  2. Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, 20015, DC, USA

    Yue Meng, Ho-kwang Mao, Michael Y. Hu, Jinfu Shu, Daniel Hausermann & Russell J. Hemley

  3. GSECARS, University of Chicago, Chicago, 60439, Illinois, USA

    Peter J. Eng, Thomas P. Trainor & Matthew Newville

  4. National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, 11973, New York, USA

    Chichang Kao

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Correspondence to Yue Meng.

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Meng, Y., Mao, Hk., Eng, P. et al. The formation of sp3 bonding in compressed BN. Nature Mater 3, 111–114 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1060

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