Publications
25 results found
Boström HLB, Collings IE, Cairns AB, et al., 2019, High-pressure behaviour of Prussian blue analogues: interplay of hydration, Jahn-Teller distortions and vacancies., Dalton Trans, Vol: 48, Pages: 1647-1655
We report a high-pressure crystallographic study of four hydrated Prussian blue analogues: M[Pt(CN)6] and M[Co(CN)6]0.67 (M = Mn2+, Cu2+) in the range 0-3 GPa. Mn[Co(CN)6]0.67 was studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, whereas the other systems were only available in polycrystalline form. The Mn-containing compounds undergo pressure-induced phase transitions from Fm3[combining macron]m to R3[combining macron] at ∼1.0-1.5 GPa driven by cooperative tilting of the octahedral units. No phase transition was found for the orbitally disordered Cu[Co(CN)6]0.67 up to 3 GPa. Mn[Co(CN)6]0.67 is significantly softer than the other samples, with a bulk modulus of ∼14 GPa compared to ∼35 GPa of the powdered samples. The discrepant pressure responses are discussed in terms of the presence of structural defects, Jahn-Teller distortions, and hydration. The implications for the development of polar systems are reviewed based upon our high-pressure study.
Scelta D, Baldassarre A, Serrano-Ruiz M, et al., 2018, The p-sc structure in phosphorus: bringing order to the high pressure phases of group 15 elements, CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS, Vol: 54, ISSN: 1359-7345
, 2018, One-dimensional diamondoid polyaniline-like nanothreads from compressed crystal aniline, Chemical Science, Vol: 9, Pages: 254-260, ISSN: 2041-6520
© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2018. Low-dimensional nanomaterials such as highly ordered polyaniline (PANI) have attracted considerable interest due to their expected extraordinary electronic and optoelectronic properties. In spite of several attempts, the attainment of atomically well-ordered PANI is a long-standing challenge. Pressure-induced polymerization of aromatic molecules in the crystal phase has been demonstrated as a practicable route for the synthesis of highly ordered polymers but this approach has never been tested to produce PANI. Here we show the synthesis of diamondoid polyaniline-like nanothreads at 33 GPa and 550 K by compressing aniline in crystal phase-II. Infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction data, and DFT calculations support the formation of this totally new polyaniline-like nanothread. The NH2-enriched carbon nanothread combines the outstanding mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes with the versatility of NH2 groups decorating the exterior of the nanothreads representing potential active sites for doping and as linkers for molecules with biological interest and inorganic nanostructures. The synergy of all of these properties emphasizes the strong potential of this material to be applied in a broad range of areas, from chemistry to materials engineering.
Cairns AB, Goodwin AL, Schober H, et al., 2017, Anomalous thermal expansion, negative linear compressibility, and high-pressure phase transition in ZnAu2(CN)4: Neutron inelastic scattering and lattice dynamics studies, Physical Review B, Vol: 96, ISSN: 2469-9950
© 2017 American Physical Society. We present temperature-dependent inelastic-neutron-scattering measurements, accompanied by ab initio calculations of the phonon spectra and elastic properties as a function of pressure to quantitatively explain an unusual combination of negative thermal expansion and negative linear compressibility behavior of ZnAu2(CN)4. The mechanism of the negative thermal expansion is identified in terms of specific anharmonic phonon modes that involve bending of the -Zn-NC-Au-CN-Zn- linkage. The soft phonon at the L point at the Brillouin zone boundary quantitatively relates to the high-pressure phase transition at about 2 GPa. The ambient pressure structure is also found to be close to an elastic instability that leads to a weakly first-order transition.
Scelta D, Baldassarre A, Serrano-Ruiz M, et al., 2017, Interlayer Bond Formation in Black Phosphorus at High Pressure, ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION, Vol: 56, Pages: 14135-14140, ISSN: 1433-7851
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- Citations: 3
Scelta D, Baldassarre A, Serrano-Ruiz M, et al., 2017, Interlayer Bond Formation in Black Phosphorus at High Pressure., Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol: 56, Pages: 14135-14140, ISSN: 1521-3757
Black phosphorus was compressed at room temperature across the A17, A7 and simple-cubic phases up to 30 GPa, using a diamond anvil cell and He as pressure transmitting medium. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction showed the persistence of two previously unreported peaks related to the A7 structure in the pressure range of the simple-cubic phase. The Rietveld refinement of the data demonstrates the occurrence of a two-step mechanism for the A7 to simple-cubic phase transition, indicating the existence of an intermediate pseudo simple-cubic structure. From a chemical point of view this study represents a deep insight on the mechanism of interlayer bond formation during the transformation from the layered A7 to the non-layered simple-cubic phase of phosphorus, opening new perspectives for the design, synthesis and stabilization of phosphorene-based systems. As superconductivity is concerned, a new experimental evidence to explain the anomalous pressure behavior of Tc in phosphorus below 30 GPa is provided.
Dziubek K, Citroni M, Fanetti S, et al., 2017, Synthesis of High-Quality Crystalline Carbon Nitride Oxide by Selectively Driving the High-Temperature Instability of Urea with Pressure, JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C, Vol: 121, Pages: 19872-19879, ISSN: 1932-7447
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- Citations: 2
Dziubek K, Citroni M, Fanetti S, et al., 2017, High-Pressure High-Temperature Structural Properties of Urea, JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C, Vol: 121, Pages: 2380-2387, ISSN: 1932-7447
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- Citations: 4
Cairns AB, Cliffe MJ, Paddison JAM, et al., 2016, Encoding complexity within supramolecular analogues of frustrated magnets, NATURE CHEMISTRY, Vol: 8, Pages: 442-447, ISSN: 1755-4330
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- Citations: 13
Overy AR, Cairns AB, Cliffe MJ, et al., 2016, Design of crystal-like aperiodic solids with selective disorder–phonon coupling, Nature Communications, Vol: 7, Pages: 10445-10445
Collings IE, Hill JA, Cairns AB, et al., 2016, Compositional dependence of anomalous thermal expansion in perovskite-like ABX(3) formates, DALTON TRANSACTIONS, Vol: 45, Pages: 4169-4178, ISSN: 1477-9226
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- Citations: 36
Baxter EF, Bennett TD, Cairns AB, et al., 2016, A comparison of the amorphization of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) and aluminosilicate zeolites by ball-milling, DALTON TRANSACTIONS, Vol: 45, Pages: 4258-4268, ISSN: 1477-9226
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- Citations: 13
Adamson J, Lucas TC, Cairns AB, et al., 2015, Competing hydrostatic compression mechanisms in nickel cyanide, PHYSICA B-CONDENSED MATTER, Vol: 479, Pages: 35-40, ISSN: 0921-4526
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- Citations: 2
Paddison JAM, Cairns AB, Khalyavin DD, et al., 2015, Nature of Partial Magnetic Order in the Frustrated Antiferromagnet Gd₂Ti₂O₇
The frustrated pyrochlore antiferromagnet Gd$_{2}$Ti$_{2}$O$_{7}$ has anunusual partially-ordered magnetic structure at the lowest measurabletemperatures. This structure is currently believed to involve four magneticpropagation vectors $\mathbf{k}\in \langle \frac{1}{2} \frac{1}{2} \frac{1}{2}\rangle^*$ in a cubic 4-$\mathbf{k}$ structure, based on analysis of magneticdiffuse-scattering data [J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 16, L321 (2004)]. Here, wepresent three pieces of evidence against the 4-$\mathbf{k}$ structure. First,we report single-crystal neutron-diffraction measurements as a function ofapplied magnetic field, which are consistent with the selective field-inducedpopulation of non-cubic magnetic domains. Second, we present evidence fromhigh-resolution powder neutron-diffraction measurements that rhombohedralstrains exist within magnetic domains, which may be generated bymagneto-elastic coupling only for the alternative 1-$\mathbf{k}$ structure.Finally, we show that the argument previously used to rule out the1-$\mathbf{k}$ structure is flawed, and demonstrate that magneticdiffuse-scattering data can actually be fitted quantitatively by a1-$\mathbf{k}$ structure in which spin fluctuations on ordered and disorderedmagnetic sites are strongly coupled. Our results provide an experimentalfoundation on which to base theoretical descriptions of partially-orderedstates.
Hill JA, Cairns AB, Lim JJK, et al., 2015, Zero-strain reductive intercalation in a molecular framework, CRYSTENGCOMM, Vol: 17, Pages: 2925-2928, ISSN: 1466-8033
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- Citations: 3
Cairns AB, Goodwin AL, 2015, Negative linear compressibility, PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY CHEMICAL PHYSICS, Vol: 17, Pages: 20449-20465, ISSN: 1463-9076
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- Citations: 51
Hunt SJ, Cliffe MJ, Hill JA, et al., 2015, Flexibility transition and guest-driven reconstruction in a ferroelastic metal-organic framework, CRYSTENGCOMM, Vol: 17, Pages: 361-369, ISSN: 1466-8033
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- Citations: 15
Tominaka S, Hamoudi H, Suga T, et al., 2015, Topochemical conversion of a dense metal-organic framework from a crystalline insulator to an amorphous semiconductor, CHEMICAL SCIENCE, Vol: 6, Pages: 1465-1473, ISSN: 2041-6520
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- Citations: 26
Cairns A, Goodwin A, 2014, Designing next-generation negative compressibility materials., Acta Crystallographica Section A Foundations and Advances, Vol: 70, Pages: C262-C262
Hodgson SA, Adamson J, Hunt SJ, et al., 2014, Negative area compressibility in silver(I) tricyanomethanide, CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS, Vol: 50, Pages: 5264-5266, ISSN: 1359-7345
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- Citations: 34
Hermet P, Catafesta J, Bantignies J-L, et al., 2013, Vibrational and Thermal Properties of Ag-3[Co(CN)(6)] from FirstPrinciples Calculations and Infrared Spectroscopy, JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C, Vol: 117, Pages: 12848-12857, ISSN: 1932-7447
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- Citations: 17
Collings IE, Cairns AB, Thompson AL, et al., 2013, Homologous Critical Behavior in the Molecular Frameworks Zn(CN)(2) and Cd(imidazolate)(2), JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, Vol: 135, Pages: 7610-7620, ISSN: 0002-7863
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- Citations: 52
Cairns AB, Catafesta J, Levelut C, et al., 2013, Giant negative linear compressibility in zinc dicyanoaurate, NATURE MATERIALS, Vol: 12, Pages: 212-216, ISSN: 1476-1122
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- Citations: 103
Cairns AB, Goodwin AL, 2013, Structural disorder in molecular framework materials, CHEMICAL SOCIETY REVIEWS, Vol: 42, Pages: 4881-4893, ISSN: 0306-0012
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- Citations: 74
Cairns AB, Thompson AL, Tucker MG, et al., 2012, Rational Design of Materials with Extreme Negative Compressibility: Selective Soft-Mode Frustration in KMn[Ag(CN)(2)](3), JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, Vol: 134, Pages: 4454-4456, ISSN: 0002-7863
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- Citations: 68
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