Login / Signup

Giant anisotropic thermal expansion actuated by thermodynamically assisted reorientation of imidazoliums in a single crystal.

Zi-Shuo YaoHanxi GuanYoshihito ShiotaChun-Ting HeXiao-Lei WangShu-Qi WuXiao-Yan ZhengSheng-Qun SuKazunari YoshizawaKangren KongOsamu SatoJun Tao
Published in: Nature communications (2019)
Materials demonstrating unusual large positive and negative thermal expansion are fascinating for their potential applications as high-precision microscale actuators and thermal expansion compensators for normal solids. However, manipulating molecular motion to execute huge thermal expansion of materials remains a formidable challenge. Here, we report a single-crystal Cu(II) complex exhibiting giant thermal expansion actuated by collective reorientation of imidazoliums. The circular molecular cations, which are rotationally disordered at a high temperature and statically ordered at a low temperature, demonstrate significant reorientation in the molecular planes. Such atypical molecular motion, revealed by variable-temperature single crystal X-ray diffraction and solid-state NMR analyses, drives an exceptionally large positive thermal expansion and a negative thermal expansion in a perpendicular direction of the crystal. The consequent large shape change (~10%) of bulk material, with remarkable durability, suggests that this complex is a strong candidate as a microscale thermal actuating material.
Keyphrases
  • solid state
  • high resolution
  • single molecule
  • computed tomography
  • high temperature
  • risk assessment