High-pressure Raman spectroscopy study of α and γ polymorphs of AlH3

For the first time, Raman spectroscopy of α and γ polymorphs of AlH3 has been performed in the pressure range from ambient up to 16.9 and 32.7 GPa, respectively using the diamond anvil cell (DAC) technique. An analysis of pressure response wavenumbers (ν) for α‐AlH3 showed a change of dνi/dP at a pressure of about 8 GPa and may indicate a monoclinic distortion from the initially hexagonal α‐AlH3. The distortion is stable at least up to 16.9 GPa. The γ form exhibited more complex behavior transforming to the α form at a pressure of about 12 GPa. The structural phase transition was shown to be an irreversible and kinetically slow process that required at least 5 h to complete. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.