Issue 23, 2012

Synthesis and high-pressure transformation of metastable wurtzite-structured CuGaS2 nanocrystals

Abstract

The metastable wurtzite nanocrystals of CuGaS2 have been synthesized through a facile and effective one-pot solvothermal approach. Through the Rietveld refinement on experimental X-ray diffraction patterns, we have unambiguously determined the structural parameters and the disordered nature of this wurtzite phase. The metastability of wurtzite structure with respect to the stable chalcopyrite structure was testified by a precise theoretical total energy calculation. Subsequent high-pressure experiments were performed to establish the isothermal phase stability of this wurtzite phase in the pressure range of 0–15.9 GPa, above which another disordered rock salt phase crystallized and remained stable up to 30.3 GPa, the highest pressure studied. Upon release of pressure, the sample was irreversible and intriguingly converted into the energetically more favorable and ordered chalcopyrite structure as revealed by the synchrotron X-ray diffraction and the high-resolution transmission electron microscopic measurements. The observed phase transitions were rationalized by first-principles calculations. The current research surely establishes a novel phase transition sequence of disorder → disorder → order, where pressure has played a significant role in effectively tuning stabilities of these different phases.

Graphical abstract: Synthesis and high-pressure transformation of metastable wurtzite-structured CuGaS2 nanocrystals

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 Jun 2012
Accepted
28 Sep 2012
First published
03 Oct 2012

Nanoscale, 2012,4, 7443-7447

Synthesis and high-pressure transformation of metastable wurtzite-structured CuGaS2 nanocrystals

N. Xiao, L. Zhu, K. Wang, Q. Dai, Y. Wang, S. Li, Y. Sui, Y. Ma, J. Liu, B. Liu, G. Zou and B. Zou, Nanoscale, 2012, 4, 7443 DOI: 10.1039/C2NR31629C

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