title: Pressure-induced solid carbonates from molecular CO2 by computer simulation
abstract: A combination of ab initio molecular dynamic simulations and fully relaxed total energy calculations is used to predict that molecular CO2 should transform to nonmolecular carbonate phases based on CO4 tetrahedra at pressures in the range of 35 to 60 gigapascals. The simulation suggests a variety of competing phases, with a more facile transformation of the molecular phase at high temperatures. Thermodynamically, the most stable carbonate phase at high pressure is predicted to be isostructural to SiO2 alpha-quartz (low quartz). A class of carbonates, involving special arrangements of CO4 tetrahedra, is found to be more stable than all the other silica-like polymorphs.
authors.affiliation: International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), Via Beirut 4, I-34014 Trieste, Italy. Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia (INFM), Via Beirut 4, I-34014 Trieste, Italy. International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Post Of.
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Serra
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cavazzoni
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Chiarotti
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Scandolo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tosatti