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Pressure-stabilized divalent ozonide CaO3 and its impact on Earth's oxygen cycles.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Yan, Bingmin 
Qin, Qin 

Abstract

High pressure can drastically alter chemical bonding and produce exotic compounds that defy conventional wisdom. Especially significant are compounds pertaining to oxygen cycles inside Earth, which hold key to understanding major geological events that impact the environment essential to life on Earth. Here we report the discovery of pressure-stabilized divalent ozonide CaO3 crystal that exhibits intriguing bonding and oxidation states with profound geological implications. Our computational study identifies a crystalline phase of CaO3 by reaction of CaO and O2 at high pressure and high temperature conditions; ensuing experiments synthesize this rare compound under compression in a diamond anvil cell with laser heating. High-pressure x-ray diffraction data show that CaO3 crystal forms at 35 GPa and persists down to 20 GPa on decompression. Analysis of charge states reveals a formal oxidation state of -2 for ozone anions in CaO3. These findings unravel the ozonide chemistry at high pressure and offer insights for elucidating prominent seismic anomalies and oxygen cycles in Earth's interior. We further predict multiple reactions producing CaO3 by geologically abundant mineral precursors at various depths in Earth's mantle.

Description

Keywords

37 Earth Sciences, 34 Chemical Sciences, 3705 Geology

Journal Title

Nat Commun

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2041-1723
2041-1723

Volume Title

11

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC