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Under Pressure, ‘Squishy’ Compound reacts in remarkable ways

As a compound of manganese sulfide is compressed in a diamond anvil cell, it undergoes dramatic transitions. In this illustration, the interaction between the manganese (Mn) atomic ions (purple circles) and disulfur (S2) molecular ions (figure 8s) increases from left to right until the overlap is significant enough to make the system metallic. (Illustration courtesy of Dean Smith, Argonne National Lab)

Remarkable things happen when a “squishy” compound of manganese and sulfide (MnS2) is compressed in a diamond anvil, say researchers from the University of Rochester and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).

“This is a new type of charge transfer mechanism, and so from a science community point of view this is very, very exciting...

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