New synthetic discoveries via high-pressure solid-state chemistry

Abstract

Most of the syntheses in solid-state chemistry are performed at constant pressure of ∼1 atm (about 10⁵ Pa) by the manipulation of the thermodynamic parameters temperature and composition, leading to a rich variety of compounds. In contrast, the additional variation of pressure has remained virtually unexplored, due to the relatively large costs of maintaining high-pressure conditions and the inevitably tiny sample volumes. In the last two decades, technical advances, developed for studying the properties of minerals, have found access into the preparative solid-state chemistry, opening up tremendously large areas to synthesize new materials.