Issue 24, 2016

High-pressure phase transitions in rubidium and caesium hydroxides

Abstract

A computational investigation of the high-pressure phase sequence of the heaviest alkali hydroxides, RbOH and CsOH, shows that the phase diagram of both compounds is richer than hitherto thought. First-principles calculations suggest, based on energetics and comparisons to experimental diffraction and spectroscopy signatures, that the high-pressure phase RbOH-VI, stable above 6 GPa in experiment, should be assigned the KOH-VI structure type, and features localised hydrogen-bonded (OH)4 units. Meanwhile, a new high-pressure phase CsOH-VII is predicted to be stable above 10 GPa in an isosymmetric phase transition that, like RbOH-VI, marks the transition from layered to three-dimensional network structures under increased compression. Both new phases highlight an unexpected flexibility of hydrogen bond network formation in a series of compounds that seemingly only vary in the cation size, and potential consequences for similar systems, such as water-carrying minerals, are discussed briefly.

Graphical abstract: High-pressure phase transitions in rubidium and caesium hydroxides

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
11 May 2016
Accepted
01 Jun 2016
First published
02 Jun 2016
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2016,18, 16527-16534

Author version available

High-pressure phase transitions in rubidium and caesium hydroxides

A. Hermann, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2016, 18, 16527 DOI: 10.1039/C6CP03203F

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