Anomalous compression and new high-pressure phases of vanadium sesquioxide, V2O3.

We report results of a powder x-ray diffraction (XRD) study of vanadium sesquioxide, V2O3, under pressurization in a neon pressure-transmitting medium up to 57 GPa. We have established a bulk modulus value for corundum-type V2O3 of B0 = 150 GPa at B' = 4. This bulk modulus value is the lowest among those known for the corundum-type-structured oxides, e.g. Al2O3, α-Fe2O3, Cr2O3, Ti2O3, and α-Ga2O3. We have proposed that this might be related to the difference in the electronic band structures: at room temperature V2O3 is metallic, but the above corundum-structured sesquioxides are semiconducting or insulating. Around ∼21-27 and ∼50 GPa we registered changes in the XRD patterns that might be addressed to phase transitions. These transitions were sluggish upon room-temperature compression, and hence we additionally facilitated them by the laser heating of one sample. We have refined the XRD patterns of only the first high-pressure phase in an orthorhombic lattice of a Rh2O3(II)-type. Our findings significantly extend the knowledge of the P-T phase diagram of V2O3 and advance the understanding of its properties. We speculate that the elastic properties of V2O3 can be closely linked to its electronic band structure and, consequently, we propose that slightly doped V2O3 (e.g. with Cr) could be a potential candidate for systems in which the bulk modulus value may be remarkably switched by moderate pressure or temperature.