Synthesis and Compressibility of Novel Nickel Carbide at Pressures of Earth’s Outer Core

Abstract

We report the high-pressure synthesis and the equation of state (EOS) of a novel nickel carbide (Ni3C). It was synthesized in a diamond anvil cell at 184(5) GPa through a direct reaction of a nickel powder with carbon from the diamond anvils upon heating at 3500 (200) K. Ni3C has the cementite-type structure (Pnma space group, a = 4.519(2) Å, b = 5.801(2) Å, c = 4.009(3) Å), which was solved and refined based on in-situ synchrotron single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The pressure-volume data of Ni3C was obtained on decompression at room temperature and fitted to the 3rd order Burch-Murnaghan equation of state with the following parameters: V0 = 147.7(8) Å3, K0 = 157(10) GPa, and K0′ = 7.8(6). Our results contribute to the understanding of the phase composition and properties of Earth’s outer core.