High-pressure nitride materials: towards the controllable and scalable synthesis in a diamond anvil cell

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Over the past decade a branch of solid-state inorganic chemistry has emerged that aims the discovery of novel atypical compounds at high-pressure conditions. Nevertheless, the need of modern technology in new materials, which are available only from the high-pressure synthesis, can be fulfilled only if these materials are produced in measurable quantities via a controlled and reproducible process. Within HIPMAT I will focus on the synthesis of nitride materials – a class of compounds with outstanding and diverse physical and chemical properties, which find applications as ultrahard materials as well as in semiconductor technology. The overarching aim of HIPMAT is to address the challenges of high-pressure synthesis, which lie beyond simple material discovery. We will use new opportunities provided by the European X-ray Free Electron Laser for studying mechanisms of high-pressure nitridation reactions, using the combination of pulsed laser-heating and ultrafast X-ray probing. Knowledge of the reaction mechanisms and kinetics will allow to choose reaction conditions favoring maximum amounts of desired products. Next, we will focus on the upscaling of the synthesis of the most promising high-pressure nitrides by developing novel precursors and by performing the synthesis in newly developed large-volume diamond anvil cells. HIPMAT will not only result in the discovery of plethora of novel high-pressure materials, but also will provide deep understanding of mechanisms underlying the chemical synthesis at high-pressure conditions and will enable controllable large-scale synthesis of new functional materials. The methods developed within HIPMAT will be applicable to other classes of materials and will be an important contribution to the field of solid-state inorganic chemistry and materials science.