Glassy selenium at high pressure: Le Chatelier's principle still works

V. V. Brazhkin and O. B. Tsiok
Phys. Rev. B 96, 134111 – Published 17 October 2017

Abstract

Selenium is the only easily vitrified elementary substance. Numerous experimental studies of glassy Se (g-Se) at high pressures show a large spread in the data on the compressibility and electrical resistivity of g-Se. Furthermore, H. Liu et al. [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105, 13229 (2008)] have arrived at the surprising conclusion that the volume of glass increases during pressure-induced crystallization. We have performed high-precision measurements of the specific volume and electrical resistivity of glassy selenium (g-Se) at high hydrostatic pressures up to 9 GPa. The measured bulk modulus at normal pressure is B=(9.05±0.15) GPa and its pressure derivative is BP=6.4±0.2. In the pressure range P<3 GPa, glassy selenium has an anomalously large negative second derivative of the bulk modulus. The electrical resistivity of g-Se decreases almost exponentially with increasing pressure and reaches 20 Ω cm at a pressure of 8.75 GPa. The inelastic behavior and weak relaxation of the volume for g-Se begin at pressures above 3.5 GPa; the volume and logarithm of the electrical resistivity relax significantly (logarithmically with the time) at pressures above 8 GPa. Bulk measurements certainly indicate that the volume of g-Se glass in the crystallization pressure range is larger than the volumes of both appearing crystalline phases (by 2% and 4%). Therefore, the “volume expansion phenomenon” suggested in [H. Liu et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105, 13229 (2008)] is not observed, and the pressure-induced crystallization of glassy selenium is consistent with the laws of thermodynamics.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 31 July 2017
  • Revised 3 October 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.96.134111

©2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

V. V. Brazhkin* and O. B. Tsiok

  • Institute for High Pressure Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Troitsk, Moscow 108840, Russia

  • *brazhkin@hppi.troitsk.ru

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 96, Iss. 13 — 1 October 2017

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review B

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×