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Iron-bearing carbonates play an important role in Earth's carbon cycle. Owing to their stability at mantle conditions, recently discovered iron carbonates with tetrahedrally coordinated carbon atoms are candidates for carbon storage in the deep Earth. The carbonates' iron oxidation and spin state at extreme pressure and temperature conditions contribute to the redox conditions and element partitioning in the deep mantle. By laser heating FeCO3 at pressures of about 83 GPa, Fe43+C3O12 and Fe22+Fe23+C4O13 were synthesized and then investigated by x-ray emission spectroscopy to elucidate their spin state, both in situ and temperature quenched. Our experimental results show both phases in a high-spin state at all pressures and over the entire temperature range investigated, i.e., up to 3000 K. The spin state is conserved after temperature quenching. A formation path is favored where Fe43+C3O12 forms first and then reacts to Fe22+Fe23+C4O13, most likely accompanied by the formation of oxides. Density functional theory calculations of Fe22+Fe23+C4O13 at 80 GPa confirm the experimental findings with both ferric and ferrous iron in high-spin state with antiferromagnetic order at 80 GPa. As the intercrystalline cation partitioning between the Fe-bearing carbonates and the surrounding perovskite and ferropericlase depends on the spin state of the iron, an understanding of the redox conditions prevalent in subducted slab regions in the lower mantle has to take the latter into account. Especially, Fe22+Fe23+C4O13 may play a key role in subducted material in the lower mantle, potentially with a similar role as silicate perovskite.

Extreme pressures and temperatures are known to drastically affect the chemistry of iron oxides, resulting in numerous compounds forming homologous series nFeOmFe2O3 and the appearance of FeO2. Here, based on the results of in situ single-crystal x-ray diffraction, Mössbauer spectroscopy, x-ray absorption spectroscopy, and density-functional theory+dynamical mean-field theory calculations, we demonstrate that iron in high-pressure cubic FeO2 and isostructural FeO2H0.5 is ferric (Fe3+), and oxygen has a formal valence less than 2. Reduction of oxygen valence from 2, common for oxides, down to 1.5 can be explained by a formation of a localized hole at oxygen sites. © 2021 American Physical Society.

Extreme pressures and temperatures are known to drastically affect the chemistry of iron oxides, resulting in numerous compounds forming homologous series nFeOmFe2O3 and the appearance of FeO2. Here, based on the results of in situ single-crystal x-ray diffraction, Mössbauer spectroscopy, x-ray absorption spectroscopy, and density-functional theory+dynamical mean-field theory calculations, we demonstrate that iron in high-pressure cubic FeO2 and isostructural FeO2H0.5 is ferric (Fe3+), and oxygen has a formal valence less than 2. Reduction of oxygen valence from 2, common for oxides, down to 1.5 can be explained by a formation of a localized hole at oxygen sites.

The high pressure structural phase diagram of EuTiO3 is revisited by means of single crystal x-ray diffraction at pressures below 30GPa. We report a transition at about 3GPa with a surprisingly small lattice distortion. At 23GPa we have detected a yet unknown transition into a new orthorhombic phase (space group Ibam). Combining our observations on structures obtained on single crystals and polycrystalline samples with complementary methods, such as electrical resistivity and nuclear forward scattering of synchrotron radiation measured on polycrystalline samples, we address issues relevant to chemistry and disorder.

The structural and magnetic properties of siderite FeCO3 have been studied by means of neutron powder diffraction at pressures up to 7.5 GPa and first-principles theoretical calculations. The lattice compression in the rhombohedral calcite-type structure is dominated by the reduction of the Fe-O bonds, while the changes of the C-O bonds are much less pronounced. The Néel temperature of the antiferromagnetic (AFM) ground state increases substantially under pressure with a coefficient dTN/dP=1.8K/GPa, which is about 1.5 times larger in comparison with those predicted by the empirical Bloch rule. The ab initio calculations were performed in the framework of the density functional theory including Hubbard-U correction. The calculated structural parameters and Néel temperature as functions of pressure provide a reasonable agreement with the experimental results. The analysis of the density of electronic states points toward increased covalent bonding between the Fe and O atoms upon pressure, giving rise to unexpectedly large pressure coefficient of the Néel temperature and reduced ordered magnetic moments of Fe atoms.

We present a high-pressure study of Mg1-xFexO (ferropericlase, Fp) single crystals 0.04(1)≤x≤0.33(1) with a focus on ferrous iron spin-state crossover and the material behavior preceding it. Using Vegard's law and highly accurate high-pressure single-crystal experimental data, we extract the lattice parameter aFeOHS of the "FeO high spin lattice contribution" in the MgO-FeO solid solution. We find that ferropericlases with a wide range of compositions share the same critical parameter aC (defined as the minimum aFeOHS after which spin crossover starts). Furthermore, we discuss the effect of composition on spin crossover in ferrous iron in ferropericlase in the limits of low and moderate concentrations of Fe2+.

Magnetic properties of NiO have been studied in the multimegabar pressure range by nuclear forward scattering of synchrotron radiation using the 67.4 keV Mössbauer transition of Ni61. The observed magnetic hyperfine splitting confirms the antiferromagnetic state of NiO up to 280 GPa, the highest pressure where magnetism has been observed so far, in any material. Remarkably, the hyperfine field increases from 8.47 T at ambient pressure to ∼24 T at the highest pressure, ruling out the possibility of a magnetic collapse. A joint x-ray diffraction and extended x-ray-absorption fine structure investigation reveals that NiO remains in a distorted sodium chloride structure in the entire studied pressure range. Ab initio calculations support the experimental observations, and further indicate a complete absence of Mott transition in NiO up to at least 280 GPa.

The pressure evolution of the local structure of Fe2O3 hematite has been determined by extended x-ray absorption fine structure up to ∼79 GPa. Below the phase-transition pressure at ∼50 GPa, no increasing of FeO6 octahedra distortion is observed as pressure is applied. Above the phase transition, an abrupt decrease of the nearest-neighbor Fe-O distance is observed concomitantly with a strong reduction in the FeO6 distortion. This information on the local structure, used as a test-bench for the different high-pressure forms proposed in the literature, suggests that the orthorhombic structure with space group Aba2, recently proposed by Bykova [Nat. Commun. 7, 10661 (2016)2041-172310.1038/ncomms10661], is the most probable, but puts into question the presence of the P21/n form in the pressure range 54-67 GPa. Finally, the crossover from Fe high-spin to low-spin states with pressure increase has been monitored from the pre-edge region of the Fe K-edge absorption spectra. Its "simultaneous" comparison with the local structural changes allows us to conclude that it is the electronic transition that drives the structural transition and not vice versa.