Noblest of all metals is structurally unstable at high pressure.
In a series of experiments in externally electrically heated diamond anvil cells we demonstrate that at pressures above approximately 240 GPa gold adopts a hexagonal-close-packed structure. Ab initio calculations predict that at pressures about 250 GPa different stacking sequences of close-packed atomic layers in gold become virtually degenerate in energy, strongly supporting the experimental observations.
Dubrovinsky
L
L
Bayerisches Geoinstitut, Universität Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany.
Dubrovinskaia
N
N
Crichton
W A
WA
Mikhaylushkin
A S
AS
Simak
S I
SI
Abrikosov
I A
IA
de Almeida
J S
JS
Ahuja
R
R
Luo
W
W
Johansson
B
B