Enhanced Reactivity of Lithium and Copper at High Pressure
High pressure can profoundly affect the electronic structure and reactivity, creating compounds between elements that do not react at ambient conditions. Lithium is known to react with gold and silver; however, no copper compounds are known to date. Here, by compressing mixtures of the elements in diamond-anvil cells, compounds of lithium and copper have been synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction for the first time. Pressures as low as 1 GPa lead to the formation of a complex layered phase LiCu, displaying two-dimensional kagomé lattice layers of Cu atoms. With increasing pressure, the layered Cu–Cu bonding is replaced by linear chains of Cu atoms in the high-pressure phase Li2Cu. Here we show the powerful effects of even modest pressures on the reactivity of lithium, leading to structures of remarkable complexity and low-dimensional transition metal bonding.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-06CH11357; NA0001974
- OSTI ID:
- 1440597
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 9, Issue 11; ISSN 1948-7185
- Publisher:
- American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- ENGLISH
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