Molecular Structure Determination of Solid Carbon Dioxide Phase IV at
High Pressures and Temperatures Based on MP2 Theory
Abstract
Carbon dioxide has attracted considerable attention owing to its physics
and abundant polymorphs. Despite decades of extensive experiments and
theoretical simulations, the structure and properties of carbon dioxide
under extreme pressures and temperatures are yet to be properly
understood. Particularly, the intermediate phase IV of solid carbon
dioxide, which separates the molecular phases at low pressures from the
non-molecular phases at high pressures, has not been fully investigated,
and its structure remains controversial. Here, based on the second-order
Møller−Plesset perturbation (MP2) theory and the embedded fragment
method, we study the crystal structure, equation of state, and Raman
spectra of solid carbon dioxide phase IV at high pressures and
temperatures. We demonstrate that the solid carbon dioxide phase IV is a
molecular structure that remains in a molecular state rather than the
bent state shown in other literatures, which is consistent with the
experimental work by Datchi et al. and denies the observed results by
Park et al. The proposed work is of great significance in determining
the structure of the high-pressure phases of carbon dioxide and further
exploring the new phase of molecular crystals.