Pressure-induced stacking disorder in boehmite

Ishii, Yusuke*; Komatsu, Kazuki*; Nakano, Satoshi*; Machida, Shinichi*; Hattori, Takanori   ; Sano, Asami   ; Kagi, Hiroyuki*

The structure of an aluminum layered hydroxide, boehmite (-AlOOH), as a function of pressure was studied by using synchrotron X-ray and neutron diffraction. Peak broadening and subsequent splitting, which are only found for hkl (h 0) peaks in the X-ray diffraction patterns above 25 GPa, are explained by stacking disorder accompanied with a continuously increasing displacement of the AlO octahedral layer along a-axis. This finding could be the first experimental result for the pressure-induced stacking disorder driven by the continuous layer displacement. The magnitude of the layer displacement was estimated from the X-ray scattering profile calculation based on the stacking disordered structure model. Hydrogen bond geometries of boehmite, obtained by structure refinements on the observed neutron diffraction patterns for deuterated sample up to 10 GPa, show linearly approaching O-D covalent and DO hydrogen bond distances and they could merge below 26 GPa. The pressure-induced stacking disorder would make the electrostatic potential of hydrogen bonds asymmetric, yielding less chance for the proton-tunnelling.