Amorphization and Molecular Dissociation of SnI4 at High Pressure
Abstract
Synchrotron x-ray diffraction study establishes a novel structure sequence in SnI4 at high pressures to 153 GPa. A new crystalline phase responsible for the metallization is observed above 7.2 GPa. The pressure-amorphized SnI4 emerging above 15 GPa crystallizes at 61 GPa into another new structure having an apparent fcc lattice with a nearest-neighbor distance as short as 3.00 Å. This provides evidence for the occurrence of molecular dissociation. Atomic arrangement in the nonmolecular phase and structural properties of the amorphous state are discussed.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review Letters
- Pub Date:
- December 1997
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevLett.79.4597
- Bibcode:
- 1997PhRvL..79.4597H