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American Institute of Physics, The Journal of Chemical Physics, 16(143), p. 164508

DOI: 10.1063/1.4934502

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Mechanisms for pressure-induced crystal-crystal transition, amorphization, and devitrification of SnI4

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

The pressure-induced amorphization and subsequent recrystallization of SnI4 have been investigated using first principles molecular dynamics calculations together with high-pressure 119Sn nuclear resonant inelastic x-ray scattering measurements. Above ∼8 GPa, we observe a transformation from an ambient crystalline phase to an intermediate crystal structure and a subsequent recrystallization into a cubic phase at ∼64 GPa. The crystalline-to-amorphous transition was identified on the basis of elastic compatibility criteria. The measured tin vibrational density of states shows large amplitude librations of SnI4 under ambient conditions. Although high pressure structures of SnI4 were thought to be determined by random packing of equal-sized spheres, we detected electron charge transfer in each phase. This charge transfer results in a crystal structure packing determined by larger than expected iodine atoms.