High-pressure study of adamantane: variable shape simulations up to 26 GPa

Dynamics in the ordered and disordered phases of barocaloric adamantane

High-entropy order-disorder phase transitions can be used for efficient and eco-friendly barocaloric solid-state cooling. Here the barocaloric effect is reported in an archetypal plastic crystal, adamantane. Adamantane has a colossal isothermally reversible entropy change of 106 J K^-1 kg^-1. Extremely low hysteresis means that this can be accessed at pressure differences less than 200 bar. Configurational entropy can only account for about 40% of the total entropy change; the remainder is due to vibrational effects. Using neutron spectroscopy and supercell lattice dynamics calculations, it is found that this vibrational entropy change is mainly caused by softening in the high-entropy phase of acoustic modes that correspond to molecular rotations. We attribute this difference in the dynamics to the contrast between an 'interlocked' state in the low-entropy phase and sphere-like behaviour in the high-entropy phase. Although adamantane is a simple van der Waals solid with near-spherical molecules, this approach can be leveraged for the design of more complex barocaloric molecular crystals. Moreover, this study shows that supercell lattice dynamics calculations can accurately map the effect of orientational disorder on the phonon spectrum, paving the way for studying the vibrational entropy, thermal conductivity, and other thermodynamic effects in more complex materials.

Ultrasonic study of 1-X adamantane (X = F, Cl, Br) compounds at high pressure and at order-disorder transitions

We present an ultrasonic study of the elastic properties of 1-X adamantane (X = F, Cl, Br) during order-disorder and order-quasi-order transitions at various temperatures (77-305 K) and high pressures (up to 1 GPa). On the basis of our ultrasonic experiments, we studied for the first time the high-temperature (HT) Fm3m, medium-temperature (MT) P4₂/nmc, and low-temperature (LT) P42₁c phases of 1-fluoroadamantane at high pressures. The elastic properties of these phases at pressures up to 1 GPa at T = 293 and 77 K, as well as at isobaric heating from 77 to 293 K, have been determined. The boundaries of the HT → MT → LT phase transitions have been evaluated, which makes it possible to extend the phase diagram of 1-fluoroadamantane to higher pressures. We have confirmed that the MT → LT transition is a second-order phase transition because it is not accompanied by volume jumps but is manifested in anomalies of the elastic properties and ultrasound transmission both in high-pressure experiments and under isobaric heating. The comparison of the elastic properties of 1-X adamantanes (X = H, F, Cl, Br) has indicated a monotonic dependence at low pressures: the bulk modulus is the highest for adamantane and decreases with an increase of the atomic number of the halogen substitute (from fluorine to bromine).

Comparative study of the elastic properties of adamantane and 1-chloroadamantane at high pressure and different temperatures and at order-disorder transitions

We present a comparative ultrasonic study of the elastic properties of adamantane and 1-chloroadamantane at high pressure (up to 1.4 GPa) and different temperatures (77-293 K) and at order-disorder transitions. The ultrasonic method provides complementary pictures of the order-disorder transitions in diamondoids under pressure. The equation of state of adamantane and 1-chloroadamantane was determined up to 1.4 GPa from ultrasonic measurements of bulk modulus and is in good accordance with the previous equations developed from volumetric data. We measured the bulk and shear moduli and Poisson's ratio of adamantane and 1-chloroadamantane up to 1.4 GPa. The behaviors of elastic moduli are different for adamantane and 1-chloroadamantane. This indicates that the substitution of one hydrogen atom for chlorine significantly reduces both elastic moduli, particularly the shear modulus (≈30%). Although the pressure dependences of the bulk modulus B are almost linear and its pressure derivatives for adamantane and 1-chloroadamantane are close to each other (B' ≈ 10-12), a jump is hardly observed on the pressure dependence B(P) for adamantane at the transition from the plastic to ordered phase, whereas the pressure dependence of the bulk modulus for 1-chloroadamantane exhibits a jump of almost 17%. The experimental dependences of the bulk modulus and relative changes in the volume for both materials clearly demonstrate that the compressibility of 1-chloroadamantane is much higher for both phases. The Poisson coefficient calculated from our experimental data is larger for 1-chloroadamantane, having lower both bulk and shear moduli.

Structure and reorientational dynamics of 1-F-adamantane

Bimodal reorientational relaxations along the twofold (α) and threefold (α′) axes of the disordered Phase II (P4̄2₁c) of 1-F-adamantane.

What does pressure decide to cook with orientationally disordered plastic phase of cubane: an orientational glass or crystal?

The effect of pressure on the structure and reorientational motion of molecules in orientationally disordered (OD) crystalline phase of cubane has been investigated in detail using variable shape molecular simulations in constant-pressure constant-temperature ensemble. Complete orientational ordering occurs at a pressure of 1.0 GPa and the OD phase transforms to an orientationally ordered phase at this pressure. The transition is associated with a kink in the variation of structural parameters such as cell parameters, unit-cell volume, and interaction energy. This transition is also associated with an anomaly in specific heat. Above this transition pressure, the structural quantities display only smaller changes with further increase in pressure. The structure of high-pressure orientationally ordered (HPOO) phase has been characterized using radial distribution functions and orientational distribution function. From detailed analysis of the structure of HPOO phase we conclude that it is isostructural with low-temperature orientationally ordered phase. The OD phase has four times larger compressibility than the HPOO phase.