Synthesis of novel Ru2C under high pressure-high temperature conditions

We report here, for the first time, synthesis of the Fe(2)N type hexagonal phase of ruthenium carbide by a high pressure-high temperature technique using a laser heated diamond anvil cell (LHDAC). The synthesis is carried out by laser heating a mixture of pure elements, Ru and C, at very low 'pressure' of 5 GPa and T ~ 2000 K. The structure of the temperature quenched high pressure phase is characterized by in situ high pressure x-ray diffraction (HPXRD) and is corroborated by ex situ TEM imaging and diffraction, carried out for the first time on the retrieved sample synthesized by LHDAC. The lattice parameters of Ru(2)C at ambient pressure are found to be a = 2.534 Å and c = 4.147 Å. In situ HPXRD studies up to 14.2 GPa yield a bulk modulus of 178(4) GPa. Electronic structure calculations reveal the system to be metallic in nature with a degree of covalence along the Ru-C bond. As ruthenium is isoelectronic to osmium, this result for Ru(2)C has significant implications in the synthesis and study of osmium carbides.