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Related Concept Videos

Phase Transitions: Sublimation and Deposition02:33

Phase Transitions: Sublimation and Deposition

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Some solids can transition directly into the gaseous state, bypassing the liquid state, via a process known as sublimation. At room temperature and standard pressure, a piece of dry ice (solid CO2) sublimes, appearing to gradually disappear without ever forming any liquid. Snow and ice sublimate at temperatures below the melting point of water, a slow process that may be accelerated by winds and the reduced atmospheric pressures at high altitudes. When solid iodine is warmed, the solid sublimes...
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Phase Transitions

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Whether solid, liquid, or gas, a substance's state depends on the order and arrangement of its particles (atoms, molecules, or ions). Particles in the solid pack closely together, generally in a pattern. The particles vibrate about their fixed positions but do not move or squeeze past their neighbors. In liquids, although the particles are closely spaced, they are randomly arranged. The position of the particles are not fixed—that is, they are free to move past their neighbors to...
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Phase Transitions01:21

Phase Transitions

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A phase transition is the process in which a substance changes from one state of matter to another, like from a solid to a liquid, liquid to gas, or vice versa, at a specific temperature and under given pressure conditions. This change is spontaneous and is affected by alterations in temperature and pressure. These parameters impact the strength of the forces between molecules (intermolecular forces) in the substance.During a phase transition, both the initial and final phases of the substance...
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Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing02:39

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Heating a crystalline solid increases the average energy of its atoms, molecules, or ions, and the solid gets hotter. At some point, the added energy becomes large enough to partially overcome the forces holding the molecules or ions of the solid in their fixed positions, and the solid begins the process of transitioning to the liquid state or melting. At this point, the temperature of the solid stops rising, despite the continual input of heat, and it remains constant until all of the solid is...
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Phase Transitions: Vaporization and Condensation02:39

Phase Transitions: Vaporization and Condensation

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The physical form of a substance changes on changing its temperature. For example, raising the temperature of a liquid causes the liquid to vaporize (convert into vapor). The process is called vaporization—a surface phenomenon. Vaporization occurs when the thermal motion of the molecules overcome the intermolecular forces, and the molecules (at the surface) escape into the gaseous state. When a liquid vaporizes in a closed container, gas molecules cannot escape. As these gas phase...
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Phase Diagram01:19

Phase Diagram

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The phase of a given substance depends on the pressure and temperature. Thus, plots of pressure versus temperature showing the phase in each region provide considerable insights into the thermal properties of substances. Such plots are known as phase diagrams. For instance, in the phase diagram for water (Figure 1), the solid curve boundaries between the phases indicate phase transitions (i.e., temperatures and pressures at which the phases coexist).
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Structural phase transitions in two-dimensional Mo- and W-dichalcogenide monolayers.

Karel-Alexander N Duerloo1, Yao Li2, Evan J Reed1

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|July 2, 2014
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Mechanical strain can switch crystal structures in two-dimensional molybdenum and tungsten dichalcogenide monolayers. This discovery reveals potential for new phase-change materials, like MoTe2, with applications beyond graphene.

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Area of Science:

  • Materials Science
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Nanotechnology

Background:

  • Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) possess unique structural properties.
  • Some 2D TMDs exhibit elusive metal-to-insulator transitions with potential for metastability.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of mechanical deformation in controlling the thermodynamic stability of crystal structures in 2D TMDs.
  • To identify 2D TMDs as potential phase-change materials for novel electronic applications.

Main Methods:

  • State-of-the-art density functional theory (DFT) calculations.
  • Hybrid Hartree-Fock/DFT methods incorporating vibrational energy corrections.
  • Analysis of mechanical tensile strains under uniaxial conditions.

Main Results:

  • Mechanical deformations can switch thermodynamic stability between semiconducting and metallic phases in 2D TMD monolayers.
  • Molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe2) is identified as a promising phase-change material.
  • Tensile strains between 0.3% and 3% can induce phase transitions in MoTe2 at room temperature.
  • Potential for mechanical phase transitions is predicted across all six studied TMD compounds.

Conclusions:

  • Mechanical strain offers a controllable pathway to tune the structural and electronic properties of 2D TMDs.
  • This research opens avenues for designing novel electronic devices based on mechanically induced phase transitions in 2D materials.
  • MoTe2 and related TMDs are promising candidates for next-generation phase-change memory and logic applications.