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Orientational order controls crystalline and amorphous thermal transport in superatomic crystals

Nature Materials volume 16, pages 83–88 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

In the search for rationally assembled functional materials, superatomic crystals (SACs) have recently emerged as a unique class of compounds that combine programmable nanoscale building blocks and atomic precision1,2,3,4,5,6. As such, they bridge traditional semiconductors, molecular solids, and nanocrystal arrays by combining their most attractive features1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11. Here, we report the first study of thermal transport in SACs, a critical step towards their deployment as electronic, thermoelectric, and phononic materials10,11,12. Using frequency domain thermoreflectance (FDTR), we measure thermal conductivity in two series of SACs: the unary compounds Co6E8(PEt3)6 (E = S, Se, Te) and the binary compounds [Co6E8(PEt3)6][C60]2. We find that phonons that emerge from the periodicity of the superstructures contribute to thermal transport10,13,14. We also demonstrate a transformation from amorphous to crystalline thermal transport behaviour through manipulation of the vibrational landscape and orientational order of the superatoms. The structural control of orientational order enabled by the atomic precision of SACs expands the conceptual design space for thermal science.

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Figure 1: SAC structures and FDTR measurement.
Figure 2: Experimental and theoretical heat capacities of SACs.
Figure 3: Thermal conductivity of SACs as a function of average sound speed.
Figure 4: Thermal conductivity and structural parameters of SACs as a function of temperature.

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Acknowledgements

Funding for this research was provided by the Center for Precision Assembly of Superstratic and Superatomic Solids, an NSF MRSEC (Award Number DMR-1420634). J.A.M. and W.-L.O. acknowledge support from the Army Research Office Grant W911NF-14-0350 and the National Science Foundation CAREER Award ENG-1149374. A.J.H.M. acknowledges support from NSF award DMR-1507325. X.R. and E.S.O’B. thank the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Award Number FA9550-14-1-0381). X-ray diffraction measurements were performed in the Shared Materials Characterization Laboratory at Columbia University. Use of the Shared Materials Characterization Laboratory was made possible by funding from Columbia University. We thank R. Hastie for her help in making the illustrations. We also thank G. Elbaz and K. Lee for their help with sample preparation, and C. Nuckolls, M. Steigerwald, L. Campos, X. Zhu and C. Dean for the use of their instruments and for useful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA

    Wee-Liat Ong, Evan S. O’Brien, Daniel W. Paley & Xavier Roy

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA

    Wee-Liat Ong, Patrick S. M. Dougherty, C. Fred Higgs III, Alan J. H. McGaughey & Jonathan A. Malen

  3. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA

    C. Fred Higgs III

  4. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA

    Alan J. H. McGaughey & Jonathan A. Malen

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Contributions

W.-L.O. conducted the FDTR and DSC measurements on the SACs and first-principles calculations. E.S.O’B. synthesized SACs and together with D.W.P. conducted SCXRD characterization. P.S.M.D. conducted the nanoindentations. W.-L.O. and E.S.O’B. wrote the manuscript. J.A.M., X.R., A.J.H.M. and C.F.H.III edited the manuscript. All authors discussed the data and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jonathan A. Malen or Xavier Roy.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Information (PDF 1785 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 at 100 K; CCDC reference 1497864 (CIF 500 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 at 125 K; CCDC reference 1497865 (CIF 482 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 at 150 K; CCDC reference 1497866 (CIF 488 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 at 175 K; CCDC reference 1497867 (CIF 484 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 at 185 K; CCDC reference 1497868 (CIF 466 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 at 190 K; CCDC reference 1497869 (CIF 564 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 at 200 K; CCDC reference 1497870 (CIF 592 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 at 225 K; CCDC reference 1497871 (CIF 591 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 at 250 K; CCDC reference 1497872 (CIF 597 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 at 275 K; CCDC reference 1497873 (CIF 615 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 at 300 K; CCDC reference 1497874 (CIF 575 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 at 100 K; CCDC reference 1497876 (CIF 831 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 at 125 K; CCDC reference 1497877 (CIF 825 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 at 150 K; CCDC reference 1497878 (CIF 838 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 at 175 K; CCDC reference 1497879 (CIF 838 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 at 200 K; CCDC reference 1497880 (CIF 842 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 at 225 K; CCDC reference 1497881 (CIF 841 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 at 250 K; CCDC reference 1497882 (CIF 851 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 at 275 K; CCDC reference 1497883 (CIF 854 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 at 300 K; CCDC reference 1497884 (CIF 856 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for Co6S8(PEt3)6 at 100 K; CCDC reference 1497860 (CIF 440 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for Co6S8(PEt3)6 at 293 K; CCDC reference 1497861 (CIF 210 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for Co6S8(PEt3)6 at 100 K; CCDC reference 1497862 (CIF 409 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for Co6S8(PEt3)6 at 293 K; CCDC reference 1497863 (CIF 403 kb)

Supplementary Information

Crystallographic information for Co6S8(PEt3)6 at 100 K; CCDC reference 1497875 (CIF 1070 kb)

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Ong, WL., O’Brien, E., Dougherty, P. et al. Orientational order controls crystalline and amorphous thermal transport in superatomic crystals. Nature Mater 16, 83–88 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4739

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