Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 19, 2026
06:24
High-Contrast and Fast Photorheological Switching of a Twist-Bend Nematic Liquid Crystal
Published on: October 31, 2019
7.0K
Reversible solid-to-liquid phase transition of coordination polymer crystals
Daiki Umeyama1, Satoshi Horike, Munehiro Inukai
1Department of Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University , Katsura, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan.
Journal of the American Chemical Society
|December 23, 2014
Summary
Researchers report the first reversible solid-to-liquid phase transition in crystalline coordination polymers (CPs). This discovery opens new avenues for functional materials and advanced fabrication techniques using melting CPs.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Chemistry
- Solid-State Chemistry
Background:
- Solid-to-liquid phase transitions are fundamental but understudied in coordination polymers (CPs).
- CPs offer rich functionality with potential applications.
- Investigating phase transitions in CPs can unlock novel material properties and processing methods.
Purpose of the Study:
- To report and investigate the reversible solid-to-liquid phase transition in crystalline coordination polymers.
- To explore the structural changes of these "melting" CPs in liquid and glass states.
- To demonstrate the fabrication of advanced material forms using this phase transition.
Main Methods:
- Synthesis of zinc-based coordination polymers incorporating phosphate and azoles.
- Structural analysis of the crystalline, liquid, and glass states using techniques like X-ray diffraction (not explicitly stated but implied).
- Fabrication of thin films and monolith crystals via the phase transition process.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated reversible solid-to-liquid phase transition in crystalline CPs.
- Observed that coordination bonds are partially disrupted in the liquid state but reform in the glass state.
- Successfully fabricated aligned thin films and monolith crystals through controlled phase transitions.
Conclusions:
- Coordination polymers can undergo reversible melting and resolidification.
- The "melting" behavior is attributed to balanced composition, ionicity, and bond strength.
- This phase transition provides a novel route for fabricating functional CP-based materials with controlled architectures.
Related Concept Videos
01:21Polymer Classification: Crystallinity
4.3K
Unlike ionic or small covalent molecules, polymers do not form crystalline solids due to the diffusion limitations of their long-chain structures. However, polymers contain microscopic crystalline domains separated by amorphous domains.
Crystalline domains are the regions where polymer chains are aligned in an orderly manner and held together in proximity by intermolecular forces. For example, chains in the crystalline domains of polyethylene and nylon are bound together by van der Waals...
Crystalline domains are the regions where polymer chains are aligned in an orderly manner and held together in proximity by intermolecular forces. For example, chains in the crystalline domains of polyethylene and nylon are bound together by van der Waals...
4.3K
02:31Phase Transitions
24.0K
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...
24.0K
01:21Phase Transitions
95
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...
95
02:39Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing
15.8K
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...
15.8K
02:33Phase Transitions: Sublimation and Deposition
21.1K
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...
21.1K
01:24Solid–Solid Solutions
122
The temperature-composition phase diagram of two solids, A and B, which are immiscible in the solid phase but form miscible liquids, shows that when the temperature is low, these two exist as separate, pure solids (A and B). As the temperature increases, they transition into a single-phase liquid solution where A and B coexist. Moving from point a1 to a2 in the phase diagram, the composition changes such that solid B begins to separate from the solution, enriching the remaining liquid with A.
122