Phase Diagram and Transformations of Iron Pentacarbonyl to nm Layered Hematite and Carbon-Oxygen Polymer under Pressure

We present the phase diagram of Fe(CO)5, consisting of three molecular polymorphs (phase I, II and III) and an extended polymeric phase that can be recovered at ambient condition. The phase diagram indicates a limited stability of Fe(CO)5 within a pressure-temperature dome formed below the liquid- phase II- polymer triple point at 4.2 GPa and 580 K. The limited stability, in turn, signifies the temperature-induced weakening of Fe-CO back bonds, which eventually leads to the dissociation of Fe-CO at the onset of the polymerization of CO. The recovered polymer is a composite of novel nm-lamellar layers of crystalline hematite Fe2O3 and amorphous carbon-oxygen polymers. These results, therefore, demonstrate the synthesis of carbon-oxygen polymer by compressing Fe(CO)5, which advocates a novel synthetic route to develop atomistic composite materials by compressing organometallic compounds.