High-Pressure Synthesis And In-Situ High Pressure X-Ray Diffraction Study Of Cadmium Tetraphosphide

Pure-phase polycrystalline cadmium tetraphosphide (CdP4) has been successfully synthesized under high pressures in a large volume cubic press, and the pressure-temperature (P-T) formation boundary of CdP4 from the Cd-P binary system has been determined. The equation of state of monoclinic CdP4 has also been evaluated by synchrotron-radiation angle-dispersive X-ray diffraction (ADXRD) under quasihydrostatic compression up to 26.4 GPa in a diamond-anvil cell. The ADXRD data yield a bulk modulus B-0 = 94 +/- 9 GPa with a pressure derivative B-0' = 8.0. The experimental data are discussed and compared to the results of first-principles calculations. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4790179]