High Pressure and High Temperature Studies on Manganese Oxides

Abstract

High pressure and high temperature quench experiments on f -MnO 2 , Mn 2 O 3 and sol gel derived manganese oxides have been carried out to identify any new phases to which the materials may transform under high pressure and high temperature conditions. Results of ESR, DTA and TGA investigations on sol gel derived manganese oxide have shown it to be hausmannite Mn 3 O 4 , instead of n -Mn 2 O 3 as reported earlier in the literature. The sol gel derived manganese oxide transforms to n -Mn 2 O 3 when heated above 700°C. Sol gel derived Mn 3 O 4 , when quenched from 5 GPa and temperature range 800-1200°C, gives a mixture of Mn 3 O 4 (hausmannite) and a phase having CaMn 2 O 4 (marokite)-type structure. f -MnO 2 undergoes partial amorphization when pressure-quenched from 8 GPa at room temperature. The high pressure and high temperature quench experiments up to 5 GPa and 700°C showed that the decomposition temperature of f -MnO 2 increases with pressure. The new phase reported by Liu (1976) from diamond-anvil cell (DAC) experiments on pyrolusite MnO 2 is identified to be a low-density polymorph f -MnO 2 . This unusual result of formation of low-density f -MnO 2 , having an open structure at high pressure and high temperature, is probably due to quenching of a non-equilibrium phase in Liu's (1976) laser-heated DAC experiment.