Five-dimensional visualization of phase transition in BiNiO3 under high pressure.

Colossal negative thermal expansion was recently discovered in BiNiO3 associated with a low density to high density phase transition under high pressure. The varying proportion of co-existing phases plays a key role in the macroscopic behavior of this material. Here, we utilize a recently developed X-ray Absorption Near Edge Spectroscopy Tomography method and resolve the mixture of high/low pressure phases as a function of pressure at tens of nanometer resolution taking advantage of the charge transfer during the transition. This five-dimensional (X, Y, Z, energy, and pressure) visualization of the phase boundary provides a high resolution method to study the interface dynamics of high/low pressure phase.