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Updated: May 11, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Adsorption induced transitions in soft porous crystals: an osmotic potential approach to multistability and
David Bousquet1, François-Xavier Coudert, Alexandre G J Fossati
1CNRS-ENS-UPMC, Département de Chimie, École Normale Supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris, France.
Abstract:
Soft porous crystals are flexible metal-organic frameworks that respond to physical stimuli (temperature, pressure, and gas adsorption) by large changes in their structure and unit cell volume. We propose here a thermodynamic treatment, based on the osmotic ensemble, of the interplay between guest adsorption and host deformation, where the bare host material can undergo elastic deformation, as well as structural transitions between metastable phases in the case of a multistable material. We show that in addition to structural transitions between metastable phases of bistable or multistable host frameworks, a new guest-stabilized host phase can be created when the size of the adsorbate is larger than the empty material's pore size. We then confront the findings of our approach with experimental data for systems exhibiting phenomena such as gate opening and breathing.
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