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Synthesis and characterization of a binary noble metal nitride

Nature Materials volume 3, pages 294–297 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

There has been considerable interest in the synthesis of new nitrides because of their technological and fundamental importance1,2. Although numerous metals react with nitrogen there are no known binary nitrides of the noble metals. We report the discovery and characterization of platinum nitride (PtN), the first binary nitride of the noble metals group. This compound can be formed above 45–50 GPa and temperatures exceeding 2,000 K, and is stable after quenching to room pressure and temperature. It is characterized by a very high Raman-scattering cross-section with easily observed second- and third-order Raman bands. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction shows that the new phase is cubic with a remarkably high bulk modulus of 372(±5) GPa.

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Figure 1: Representative Raman spectra (with second and third order peaks) of PtN.
Figure 2: Chemical analysis of a reacted sample.
Figure 3: In situ X-ray diffraction data.
Figure 4: Analysis of the equation of state.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to J. Lin, M. Santoro and V. Struzhkin for their help with the experiments, and O. Degtyareva, A. Goncharov, R. W. Field, B. Militzer and P. Dera for useful discussions. This work was supported by the National Center for Scientific Research and the Ministry of Research and New Technologies (France), the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (F-49620-02-1-01859) and by the National Science Foundation (DMR-0205899), the Department of Energy and the W.M. Keck Foundation.

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  1. Eugene Gregoryanz

    Present address: Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5251 Broad Branch Road, NW, Washington, 20015, DC, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université Pierre et Marie Curie, LMCP, case 115, 4 place Jussieu, Paris, France

    Eugene Gregoryanz, James Badro & Guillaume Fiquet

  2. Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5251 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, 20015, DC, USA

    Eugene Gregoryanz, Ho-kwang Mao & Russell J. Hemley

  3. Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Laboratoire Magie, case 110, 4 place Jussieu, Paris, France

    Chrystele Sanloup

  4. HPCAT, Carnegie Institution of Washington, APS, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, 60439, Illinois, USA

    M. Somayazulu

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Correspondence to Eugene Gregoryanz.

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Gregoryanz, E., Sanloup, C., Somayazulu, M. et al. Synthesis and characterization of a binary noble metal nitride. Nature Mater 3, 294–297 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1115

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