High-Pressure Synthesis for New Functional Materials Search

Abstract

In this article, the author discusses what high-pressure synthesis do for new functional materials search, based on his experience on synthesis of silicides, Si clathrates, and filled skutterudites. The materials synthesized at high pressures are denser than the materials synthesized at the ambient pressure. The author used high-pressure synthesis to (1) synthesize the compounds with crystal structures predictable from structural sequences in pressure-induced structural phase transitions and elemental substitutions in similar materials, (2) synthesize the intercalation-type host-guest compounds those have the similar crystal structure to existing Zintl-phase ones, (3) synthesize Zintl-phase tetrides that have more anion contents than those synthesized at ambient pressure, and (4) increase solid solution limits in compounds whose volume is increased by elemental substitutions.