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Experiments involving the irradiation of water contained within magnesium hydroxide and alumina nanoparticle sludges were conducted and culminated in observations of an increased yield of molecular hydrogen when compared to the yield from the irradiation of bulk water. We show that there is a relationship linking this increased yield to the direct nanoscale ionization mechanism in the nanoparticles, indicating that electron emission from the nanoparticles drives new radiative pathways in the water. Because the chemical changes in these sludges are introduced by irradiation only, we have a genuinely unstirred system. This feature allows us to determine the diffusivity of the dissolved gas. Using the measured gas production rate, we have developed a method for modelling when hydrogen bubble formation will occur within the nanoparticle sludges. This model facilitates the determination of a consistent radiolytic consumption rate coinciding with the observations of bubble formation. Thus, we demonstrate a nanoscale radiation effect directly influencing the formation of molecular hydrogen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydroxide perovskite solid solutions along the CuxZn1−xSn(OH)6 join have been investigated at ambient conditions. Two compositions, Cu0.4Zn0.6Sn(OH)6 (cubic) and CuSn(OH)6 (tetragonal), have also been studied at pressures up to 17 GPa. In both ambient and high-pressure experiments, samples were characterised using powder X-ray diffraction. Bulk compositions between 0 ≤ XCu ≤ 0.4 are metrically cubic (space group Pn 3 ¯ ), whereas those with XCu = 0.9 and 1 produced single-phase tetragonal Cu0.9Zn0.1Sn(OH)6 and CuSn(OH)6 (space group P42/n). The products of syntheses with 0.5 ≤ XCu ≤ 0.8 contain coexisting cubic and tetragonal phases. The cubic → tetragonal transformation is rationalised in terms of being driven by local strain associated with the accumulation of Cu-rich domains in the cubic phase. The high-pressure studies of cubic Cu0.4Zn0.6Sn(OH)6 and tetragonal CuSn(OH)6 phases showed contrasting behaviour. The compression curve of the cubic phase is smooth without inflexion or discontinuity to 17 GPa. The derived bulk modulus of Cu0.4Zn0.6Sn(OH)6 is K0 = 75.8(4) GPa (K′ = 4). For CuSn(OH)6, compression data cannot be fitted by a single equation-of-state over the entire pressure range to 17 GPa, as there is a clear discontinuity between 7 and 10 GPa that corresponds to an increase in compressibility at higher pressures. Compression data for CuSn(OH)6 to 7 GPa are: K0 = 59.7(9) GPa, Ka0 = 79(2) GPa, and Kc0 = 38.0(3) GPa (K′ = 4 for all). It is shown that the strong Jahn–Teller distortion associated with the Cu(OH)6 octahedron is primarily responsible for the discontinuous and highly anisotropic compressional behaviour of the unit cell of CuSn(OH)6 hydroxide perovskite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of pressure to materials can reveal unexpected chemistry. Under compression, noble gases form stoichiometric van der Waals (vdW) compounds with closed-shell molecules such as hydrogen, leading to a variety of unusual structures. We have synthesised Kr(H2)4 for the first time in a diamond-anvil high-pressure cell at pressures≥5.3 GPa and characterised its structural and vibrational properties to above 50 GPa. The structure of Kr(H2)4, as solved by single-crystal synchrotron X-ray diffraction, is face-centred cubic (fcc) with krypton atoms forming isolated octahedra at fcc sites. Rotationally disordered H2 molecules occupy four different, interstitial sites, consistent with the observation of four Raman activeH2 vibrons. The discovery of Kr(H2)4 expands the range of pressure-stabilised, hydrogen-rich vdW solids, and, in comparison with the two known rare-gas-H2 compounds, Xe(H2)8 and Ar(H2)2, reveals an increasing change in hydrogen molecular packing with increasing rare gas atomic number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the preserved bacterial and microbacterial microfossils from Apex cherts of the Warrawoona Group in Western Australia. Provision of the oldest morphological evidence for life on Earth; Supports of the fossils on the early beginning for oxygen producing photosynthesis; Structures of the microfossils.

The isothermal equation of state of silicon has been determined by synchrotron x-ray diffraction experiments up to 105.2 GPa at room temperature using diamond anvil cells. A He-pressure medium was used to minimize the effect of uniaxial stress on the sample volume and ruby, gold and tungsten pressure gauges were used. Seven different phases of silicon have been observed along the experimental conditions covered in the present study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]