Local structure of liquid carbon controls diamond nucleation

被引:42
作者
Ghiringhelli, L. M.
Valeriani, C.
Meijer, E. J.
Frenkel, D.
机构
[1] Univ Amsterdam, Van Hoff Inst Mol Sci, NL-1018 WV Amsterdam, Netherlands
[2] FOM, Inst Atom & Mol Phys, NL-1098 SJ Amsterdam, Netherlands
关键词
D O I
10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.055702
中图分类号
O4 [物理学];
学科分类号
0702 ;
摘要
Diamonds melt at temperatures above 4000 K. There are no measurements of the steady-state rate of the reverse process, i.e., diamond nucleation from the melt, because experiments are difficult at these extreme temperatures and pressures. Using numerical simulations, we estimate the diamond nucleation rate and find that it increases by many orders of magnitude when the pressure is increased at constant supersaturation. The reason is that by increasing the pressure the local coordination of the liquid changes from threefold to fourfold, and we show that the free-energy cost to create a diamond-liquid interface is lower in the fourfold than in the threefold liquid. We speculate that this mechanism for nucleation control is relevant for crystallization in many network-forming liquids. We conclude that homogeneous diamond nucleation is likely in carbon-rich stars and unlikely in gaseous planets.
引用
收藏
页数:4
相关论文
共 21 条
  • [1] Quantitative prediction of crystal-nucleation rates for spherical colloids: A computational approach
    Auer, S
    Frenkel, D
    [J]. ANNUAL REVIEW OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY, 2004, 55 : 333 - 361
  • [2] BARRAT JL, 1988, ASTRON ASTROPHYS, V199, pL15
  • [3] BERGSTRAHL JT, 1991, URANUS
  • [4] Carbon under extreme conditions: Phase boundaries and electronic properties from first-principles theory
    Correa, AA
    Bonev, SA
    Galli, G
    [J]. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 2006, 103 (05) : 1204 - 1208
  • [5] Liquid carbon: structure near the freezing line
    Ghiringhelli, LM
    Los, JH
    Meijer, EJ
    Fasolino, A
    Frenkel, D
    [J]. JOURNAL OF PHYSICS-CONDENSED MATTER, 2005, 17 (45) : S3619 - S3624
  • [6] Modeling the phase diagram of carbon
    Ghiringhelli, LM
    Los, JH
    Meijer, EJ
    Fasolino, A
    Frenkel, D
    [J]. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 2005, 94 (14)
  • [7] High-pressure diamondlike liquid carbon
    Ghiringhelli, LM
    Los, JH
    Meijer, EJ
    Fasolino, A
    Frenkel, D
    [J]. PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 2004, 69 (10):
  • [8] Earth and planetary sciences - A diamond trilogy: Superplumes, supercontinents, and supernovae
    Haggerty, SE
    [J]. SCIENCE, 1999, 285 (5429) : 851 - 860
  • [9] FORMATION OF XE-HL-ENRICHED DIAMOND GRAINS IN STELLAR ENVIRONMENTS
    JORGENSEN, UG
    [J]. NATURE, 1988, 332 (6166) : 702 - 705
  • [10] A first-order liquid-liquid phase transition in phosphorus
    Katayama, Y
    Mizutani, T
    Utsumi, W
    Shimomura, O
    Yamakata, M
    Funakoshi, K
    [J]. NATURE, 2000, 403 (6766) : 170 - 173