High-pressure Synthesis of the BiVO3 perovskite

We report the high-pressure, high-temperature synthesis of BiVO3, a cubic perovskite that thus far has remained inaccessible under ambient pressure conditions. This material was created at ~25 GPa and 1500 K in a laser-heated diamond-anvil cell and recovered it to ambient pressure and temperature. Our synthetic approach circumvents the oxidative chemistry that, at ambient pressures, previously rendered the cubic BiVO3 perovskite inaccessible. We find through density-functional theory calculations that this material is a unique metallic and antiferromagnetic transition-metal oxide.