Pressure-induced charge amorphisation in BiNiO3

Wei Tin Chen; Takumi Nishikubo; Yuki Sakai; Hena Das; Masayuki Fukuda; Zhao Pan; Naoki Ishimatsu; Masaichiro Mizumaki; Nomi Kawamura; Saori I. Kawaguchi; Olga Smirnova; Mathew G. Tucker; Tetsu Watanuki; Akihiko Machida; Shigehiro Takajo; Yoshiya Uwatoko; Yuichi Shimakawa; Mikio Takano; Masaki Azuma; J. Paul Attfield

doi:10.1038/s41467-025-57247-1

Pressure-induced charge amorphisation in BiNiO₃

Wei Tin Chen, Takumi Nishikubo, Yuki Sakai, Hena Das, Masayuki Fukuda, Zhao Pan, Naoki Ishimatsu, Masaichiro Mizumaki, Nomi Kawamura, Saori I. Kawaguchi, Olga Smirnova, Mathew G. Tucker, Tetsu Watanuki, Akihiko Machida, Shigehiro Takajo, Yoshiya Uwatoko, Yuichi Shimakawa, Mikio Takano, Masaki Azuma, J. Paul Attfield

Neutron Scattering Division

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Abstract

The order or disorder of electrons is fundamental to materials properties and also provides simple analogues to the different states of matter. A charge ordered (CO) insulating state, analogous to a crystalline solid, is observed in many mixed valence materials. On heating, this melts to a charge liquid (metallic) phase, often with interesting associated physics and functions such as the Verwey transition of Fe₃O₄, colossal magnetoresistances in manganites (e.g., La_0.5Ca_0.5MnO₃), and superconductivity in K-doped BaBiO₃. Here we report the observation of pressure induced charge amorphisation in a crystalline material. BiNiO₃ has charge distribution Bi³⁺_0.5Bi⁵⁺_0.5Ni²⁺O₃ with long range order of the Bi³⁺ and Bi⁵⁺ states at ambient pressure, but adopts another, structurally crystalline, but charge glassy, insulating phase at pressures of 4–5 GPa and temperatures below 200 K, before metallization above 6 GPa. This is analogous to the much-studied pressure induced amorphisations of many crystalline materials and melting is even observed at accessible pressure/temperature. BiNiO₃ provides fundamental insights to the study of amorphisation using charge states rather than atoms or molecules.

Original language	English
Article number	2128
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	16
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57247-1
State	Published - Dec 2025

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan Grants-in-Aid No.17105002, 18350097, 22244044, JP18H05208, JP19H05625, JP22KK0075, JP24K17509 and JP24H00374, JST-CREST (JPMJCR22O1) and JST-AdCORP (JPMJKB2304). We also thank the Leverhulme Trust, STFC and EPSRC for financial support and the provision of neutron beamtime. The synchrotron-radiation experiments were performed at SPring-8 with the approval of Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) and National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST) (Proposal Nos. 2008A3708, 2008B3723, 2019B1527, 2019B1641 and 2019B3781). W.-T.C. acknowledges the supports from the National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan, under grant no. 111-2112-M-002-044-MY3 and 113-2124-M-002-006, Academia Sinaca with project no. AS-iMATE-113-12, and the Featured Areas Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education in Taiwan 113L9008, and the Collaborative Research Project of Materials and Structures Laboratory, Institute of Integrated Research, Institute of Science Tokyo.

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Chen, W. T., Nishikubo, T., Sakai, Y., Das, H., Fukuda, M., Pan, Z., Ishimatsu, N., Mizumaki, M., Kawamura, N., Kawaguchi, S. I., Smirnova, O., Tucker, M. G., Watanuki, T., Machida, A., Takajo, S., Uwatoko, Y., Shimakawa, Y., Takano, M., Azuma, M., & Paul Attfield, J. (2025). Pressure-induced charge amorphisation in BiNiO₃. Nature Communications, 16(1), Article 2128. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57247-1

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title = "Pressure-induced charge amorphisation in BiNiO3",

abstract = "The order or disorder of electrons is fundamental to materials properties and also provides simple analogues to the different states of matter. A charge ordered (CO) insulating state, analogous to a crystalline solid, is observed in many mixed valence materials. On heating, this melts to a charge liquid (metallic) phase, often with interesting associated physics and functions such as the Verwey transition of Fe3O4, colossal magnetoresistances in manganites (e.g., La0.5Ca0.5MnO3), and superconductivity in K-doped BaBiO3. Here we report the observation of pressure induced charge amorphisation in a crystalline material. BiNiO3 has charge distribution Bi3+0.5Bi5+0.5Ni2+O3 with long range order of the Bi3+ and Bi5+ states at ambient pressure, but adopts another, structurally crystalline, but charge glassy, insulating phase at pressures of 4–5 GPa and temperatures below 200 K, before metallization above 6 GPa. This is analogous to the much-studied pressure induced amorphisations of many crystalline materials and melting is even observed at accessible pressure/temperature. BiNiO3 provides fundamental insights to the study of amorphisation using charge states rather than atoms or molecules.",

author = "Chen, \{Wei Tin\} and Takumi Nishikubo and Yuki Sakai and Hena Das and Masayuki Fukuda and Zhao Pan and Naoki Ishimatsu and Masaichiro Mizumaki and Nomi Kawamura and Kawaguchi, \{Saori I.\} and Olga Smirnova and Tucker, \{Mathew G.\} and Tetsu Watanuki and Akihiko Machida and Shigehiro Takajo and Yoshiya Uwatoko and Yuichi Shimakawa and Mikio Takano and Masaki Azuma and \{Paul Attfield\}, J.",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2025.",

year = "2025",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1038/s41467-025-57247-1",

language = "English",

volume = "16",

journal = "Nature Communications",

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Chen, WT, Nishikubo, T, Sakai, Y, Das, H, Fukuda, M, Pan, Z, Ishimatsu, N, Mizumaki, M, Kawamura, N, Kawaguchi, SI, Smirnova, O, Tucker, MG, Watanuki, T, Machida, A, Takajo, S, Uwatoko, Y, Shimakawa, Y, Takano, M, Azuma, M & Paul Attfield, J 2025, 'Pressure-induced charge amorphisation in BiNiO₃', Nature Communications, vol. 16, no. 1, 2128. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57247-1

TY - JOUR

T1 - Pressure-induced charge amorphisation in BiNiO3

AU - Chen, Wei Tin

AU - Nishikubo, Takumi

AU - Sakai, Yuki

AU - Das, Hena

AU - Fukuda, Masayuki

AU - Pan, Zhao

AU - Ishimatsu, Naoki

AU - Mizumaki, Masaichiro

AU - Kawamura, Nomi

AU - Kawaguchi, Saori I.

AU - Smirnova, Olga

AU - Tucker, Mathew G.

AU - Watanuki, Tetsu

AU - Machida, Akihiko

AU - Takajo, Shigehiro

AU - Uwatoko, Yoshiya

AU - Shimakawa, Yuichi

AU - Takano, Mikio

AU - Azuma, Masaki

AU - Paul Attfield, J.

PY - 2025/12

Y1 - 2025/12

N2 - The order or disorder of electrons is fundamental to materials properties and also provides simple analogues to the different states of matter. A charge ordered (CO) insulating state, analogous to a crystalline solid, is observed in many mixed valence materials. On heating, this melts to a charge liquid (metallic) phase, often with interesting associated physics and functions such as the Verwey transition of Fe3O4, colossal magnetoresistances in manganites (e.g., La0.5Ca0.5MnO3), and superconductivity in K-doped BaBiO3. Here we report the observation of pressure induced charge amorphisation in a crystalline material. BiNiO3 has charge distribution Bi3+0.5Bi5+0.5Ni2+O3 with long range order of the Bi3+ and Bi5+ states at ambient pressure, but adopts another, structurally crystalline, but charge glassy, insulating phase at pressures of 4–5 GPa and temperatures below 200 K, before metallization above 6 GPa. This is analogous to the much-studied pressure induced amorphisations of many crystalline materials and melting is even observed at accessible pressure/temperature. BiNiO3 provides fundamental insights to the study of amorphisation using charge states rather than atoms or molecules.

AB - The order or disorder of electrons is fundamental to materials properties and also provides simple analogues to the different states of matter. A charge ordered (CO) insulating state, analogous to a crystalline solid, is observed in many mixed valence materials. On heating, this melts to a charge liquid (metallic) phase, often with interesting associated physics and functions such as the Verwey transition of Fe3O4, colossal magnetoresistances in manganites (e.g., La0.5Ca0.5MnO3), and superconductivity in K-doped BaBiO3. Here we report the observation of pressure induced charge amorphisation in a crystalline material. BiNiO3 has charge distribution Bi3+0.5Bi5+0.5Ni2+O3 with long range order of the Bi3+ and Bi5+ states at ambient pressure, but adopts another, structurally crystalline, but charge glassy, insulating phase at pressures of 4–5 GPa and temperatures below 200 K, before metallization above 6 GPa. This is analogous to the much-studied pressure induced amorphisations of many crystalline materials and melting is even observed at accessible pressure/temperature. BiNiO3 provides fundamental insights to the study of amorphisation using charge states rather than atoms or molecules.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/86000063162

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-025-57247-1

DO - 10.1038/s41467-025-57247-1

M3 - Article

C2 - 40044656

AN - SCOPUS:86000063162

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 16

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

IS - 1

M1 - 2128

ER -

Pressure-induced charge amorphisation in BiNiO₃

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