Pressure profoundly alters all states of matter. The symbiotic development of ultrahigh-
pressure diamond anvil cells, to compress samples to sustainable multi-megabar pressures; …

At ambient conditions the great majority of the metallic elements have simple crystal
structures, such as face-centred or body-centred cubic, or hexagonal close-packed …

The quest to create superhard materials rarely strays from the use of high-pressure synthetic
methods, which typically require gigapascals of applied pressure. We report that rhenium …

Two new transition metal nitrides, IrN 2 and OsN 2, were synthesized at high pressures and
temperatures using laser-heated diamond-anvil cell techniques. Synchrotron x-ray …

Dense transition metal borides have recently been identified as superhard materials that
offer the possibility of ambient pressure synthesis compared to the conventional high …

Metallic osmium (Os) is one of the most exceptional elemental materials, having, at ambient
pressure, the highest known density and one of the highest cohesive energies and melting …

The need for wear-and scratch-resistant materials drives the quest for new superhard
materials. In this work, we apply two design parameters to identify ultra-incompressible …

Based on the detailed analysis of chemical bonds, we present a Vickers hardness
expression for the covalency-dominant crystals such as transition-metal carbides and …

The search for new ultraincompressible, superhard materials has been performed largely
through trial and error. Despite the difficulties in synthesizing such materials, interest in this …

Transition metal nitrides, particularly those of 5d metals, are known for their outstanding
properties, often relevant for industrial applications. Among these metal elements, tungsten …