Hydrazine at high pressure

We report the first high pressure study of the important rocket fuel, hydrazine in a diamond anvil cell up to 19 GPa. Using Raman spectroscopy, two phase transitions were observed between 5.5 and 8 GPa. Above 8 GPa, a new peak emerged near 3000 cm−1. The pressure-induced changes appear to be reversible as pressure was cycled down to 3.5 GPa. We then performed a second experiment at this pressure examining X-ray induced decomposition of the material using an unfocused synchrotron white beam. After some 2.4 h of irradiation (estimated to be a dose of 1.6 × 105 Gy), molecular nitrogen was produced as confirmed with Raman spectroscopy.