@article{7bb8cee770994709882dd5bd8c2b7ef0,
title = "Large H2O solubility in dense silica and its implications for the interiors of water-rich planets",
abstract = "Sub-Neptunes are common among the discovered exoplanets. However, lack of knowledge on the state of matter in H2O-rich setting at high pressures and temperatures (P-T) places important limitations on our understanding of this planet type. We have conducted experiments for reactions between SiO2 and H2O as archetypal materials for rock and ice, respectively, at high P-T. We found anomalously expanded volumes of dense silica (up to 4%) recovered from hydrothermal synthesis above ∼24 GPa where the CaCl2-type (Ct) structure appears at lower pressures than in the anhydrous system. Infrared spectroscopy identified strong OH modes from the dense silica samples. Both previous experiments and our density functional theory calculations support up to 0.48 hydrogen atoms per formula unit of (Si1-xH4x)O2 (x = 0.12). At pressures above 60 GPa, H2O further changes the structural behavior of silica, stabilizing a niccolite-type structure, which is unquenchable. From unit-cell volume and phase equilibrium considerations, we infer that the niccolite-type phase may contain H with an amount at least comparable with or higher than that of the Ct phase. Our results suggest that the phases containing both hydrogen and lithophile elements could be the dominant materials in the interiors of water-rich planets. Even for fully layered cases, the large mutual solubility could make the boundary between rock and ice layers fuzzy. Therefore, the physical properties of the new phases that we report here would be important for understanding dynamics, geochemical cycle, and dynamo generation in water-rich planets.",
keywords = "Exoplanets, Silica, Sub-neptunes, Water, Waterworlds",
author = "Carole Nisr and Huawei Chen and Kurt Leinenweber and Andrew Chizmeshya and Prakapenka, {Vitali B.} and Clemens Prescher and Tkachev, {Sergey N.} and Yue Meng and Zhenxian Liu and Shim, {Sang Heon}",
note = "Funding Information: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We thank an anonymous reviewer, the editor, and Michael Line for discussion. The work has been supported by NSF Grant EAR1338810 and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Grant 80NSSC18K0353. C.N., H.C., and S.-H.S. were supported partially by the Keck Foundation (PI: P. Buseck). The results reported herein benefit from collaborations and information exchange within NASA{\textquoteright}s Nexus for Exoplanet System Science research coordination network sponsored by NASA{\textquoteright}s Science Mission Directorate. The synchrotron experiments were conducted at Geo Soil Enviro Consortium for Advanced Radiation Sources (GSECARS) (University of Chicago, Sector 13) and High-Pressure Collaborative Access Team (HPCAT) (Sector 16), Advanced Photon Source (APS). GSECARS is supported by NSF Earth Science Grant EAR-1128799 and Department of Energy (DOE) GeoScience Grant DE-FG02-94ER14466. HPCAT is supported by DOE-NNSA Grant DE-NA0001974 and DOE-BES Grant DE-FG02-99ER45775. APS is supported by DOE-BES under Contract DE-AC02-06CH11357. We acknowledge the use of facilities within the Eyring Materials Center at ASU. Funding Information: We thank an anonymous reviewer, the editor, and Michael Line for discussion. The work has been supported by NSF Grant EAR1338810 and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Grant 80NSSC18K0353. C.N., H.C., and S.-H.S. were supported partially by the Keck Foundation (PI: P. Buseck). The results reported herein benefit from collaborations and information exchange within NASA{\textquoteright}s Nexus for Exoplanet System Science research coordination network sponsored by NASA{\textquoteright}s Science Mission Directorate. The synchrotron experiments were conducted at Geo Soil Enviro Consortium for Advanced Radiation Sources (GSECARS) (University of Chicago, Sector 13) and High-Pressure Collaborative Access Team (HPCAT) (Sector 16), Advanced Photon Source (APS). GSECARS is supported by NSF Earth Science Grant EAR-1128799 and Department of Energy (DOE) GeoScience Grant DE-FG02-94ER14466. HPCAT is supported by DOE-NNSA Grant DE-NA0001974 and DOE-BES Grant DE-FG02-99ER45775. APS is supported by DOE-BES under Contract DE-AC02-06CH11357. We acknowledge the use of facilities within the Eyring Materials Center at ASU. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.",
year = "2020",
month = may,
day = "5",
doi = "10.1073/pnas.1917448117",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "117",
pages = "9747--9754",
journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America",
issn = "0027-8424",
publisher = "National Academy of Sciences",
number = "18",
}