High-Pressure Yttrium Nitride, Y5N14, Featuring Three Distinct Types of Nitrogen Dimers

• Yttrium nitride, Y5N14, was synthesized by direct reaction between yttrium and nitrogen at similar to 50 GPa and similar to 2000 K in a laser-heated diamond anvil cell. High-pressure single-crystal X-ray diffraction revealed that the crystal structure of Y5N14 (space group P4/mbm) contains three distinct types of nitrogen dimers. Crystal chemical analysis and ab initio calculations demonstrated that the dimers [N-2](x-) are crystallographically and chemically nonequivalent and possess distinct noninteger formal charges (x) that make Y5N14 unique among known compounds. Theoretical computations showed that Y5N14 has an anion-driven metallicity, with the filled part of its conduction band formed by nitrogen p-states. The compressibility of Y5N14, determined on decompression down to similar to 10 GPa, was found to be uncommonly high for dinitrides containing +3 cations (the bulk modulus K-0 = 137(6) GPa).

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NATURVETENSKAP  -- Kemi -- Oorganisk kemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Chemical Sciences -- Inorganic Chemistry (hsv//eng)

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art (subject category)