Silver behenate under high pressure: A powder diffraction study

Silver behenate, a salt of the behenic acid, known mostly for its applications in photothermographic imaging and use as a diffraction reference material, was studied by X-ray diffraction under pressures up to 11.4 GPa. Diffraction patterns were collected using a diamond anvil cell and synchrotron radiation at the I711 beamline (MAXlab, Lund). The variation of the d spacing with pressure is determined and the potential usefulness of this dependence for pressure calibration is discussed.