Progress towards the synthesis of polymeric nitrogen

Conference · Wed Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994

OSTI ID:10177576

Lorenzana, H E; McMahan, A K; Yoo, C S; Barbee, III, T W

Current conventional energetic compounds rely on strong covalent bonds within individual molecules for energy storage. A new class of energetic compounds has been recently proposed that entirely replaces weak van der Waals interactions with strong covalent bonds arranged in a continuous, uniform network, thus tremendously enhancing the energy per volume. In particular, recent theoretical calculations have suggested that a phosphorus-like or polymeric form of nitrogen may exist metastably at atmospheric pressure as a hard, insulating solid with an enhanced energy per unit volume. It is predicted that the polymeric phase of nitrogen should be stable at high pressure. And therefore the megabar diamond anvil cell might provide the ideal vehicle for carrying out proof-of-existence experiments. currently, the authors are bringing to bear technologies for achieving multimegabar pressures and temperatures of several thousand K. These conditions are necessary to rearrange the bonds of strongly covalent systems into highly energetic configurations. There is no doubt that the transformations will show strong hysteresis making the initial synthesis difficult, but for these very same reasons, these new compounds potentially will be metastable at ambient conditions in their energetic state. They discuss their results and progress to date, indicating that they are well on their way to understanding the high pressure equation-of-state of sold N{sub 2}.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 10177576
• Report Number(s): UCRL-JC--116590; CONF-9406246--1; ON: DE94017547
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360602
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
CRYSTAL-PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
NITROGEN
PHASE DIAGRAMS
PHASE STUDIES
PRESSURE DEPENDENCE
RAMAN EFFECT
STRUCTURE AND PHASE STUDIES