High-pressure synthesis of noble metal hydrides

The formation of hydride phases in the noble metals copper, silver, and gold was investigated by in situ x-ray diffraction at high hydrogen pressures. In the case of copper, a novel hexagonal hydride phase, Cu₂H, was synthesised at pressures above 18.6 GPa. This compound exhibits an anti-CdI₂-type structure, where hydrogen atoms occupy every second layer of octahedral interstitial sites. In contrast to chemically produced CuH, this phase does not show a change in compressibility compared to pure copper. Furthermore, repeated compression (after decomposition of Cu₂H) led to the formation of cubic copper hydride at 12.5 GPa, a phenomenon attributed to an alteration of the microstructure during dehydrogenation. No hydrides of silver (up to 87 GPa) or gold (up to 113 GPa) were found at both room and high temperatures.