Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 19, 2026

A Package of Established Analytical Tools to Investigate the Solid-State Alteration of Lipid-Based Excipients
Published on: August 9, 2022
Simultaneous calorimetric and quick-EXAFS measurements to study the crystallization process in phase-change materials
Peter Zalden1, Giuliana Aquilanti, Carmello Prestipino
1I. Physikalisches Institut der RWTH, Lehrstuhl für Physik neuer Materialien, 52056 Aachen, Germany.
Abstract:
A Calvet-type differential scanning calorimeter has been implemented on a synchrotron beamline devoted to X-ray absorption spectroscopy. As a case study, the complex crystallization process in amorphous Ge(15)Sb(85) phase-change material is followed by simultaneous calorimetric and quick-EXAFS measurements. A first crystallization at 514(1) K is related to the crystallization of an Sb-rich phase accompanied by segregation of Ge atoms. Upon further heating, the as-formed amorphous Ge regions crystallize at 604(1) K. A quantitative analysis of the latent heat allows a Ge(11)Sb(89) stoichiometry to be proposed for the first crystallized phase.
Related Concept Videos
Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing
Recrystallization: Solid–Solution Equilibria
Constant Volume Calorimetry

