Orientational Correlations in the Glacial State of Triphenyl Phosphite

Thermal Conductivity of Solid Triphenyl Phosphite

The thermal conductivity, κ, of solid triphenyl phosphite was measured by using the transient hot-wire method, and its temperature and pressure dependencies were analyzed to understand heat transfer processes in the solid polymorphic phases, as well as in the glass and the exotic glacial state. Phase transformations and the structural order of the phases are discussed, and a transitional pressure-temperature diagram of triphenyl phosphite is presented. The thermal conductivity of both the crystalline and disordered states is described within the theory of two-channel heat transfer by phonons and diffusons in dielectric solids. In the glass and glacial states, the weakly temperature-dependent (glass-like) κ is described well by the term associated with heat conduction of diffusons only, and it can be represented by an Arrhenius-type function. In the crystal phases, the strongly temperature-dependent (crystal-like) κ associated with heat transfer by phonons is weakened by significant heat transfer by diffusons, and the extent of the two contributions is reflected in the temperature dependence of κ. We find that the contribution of diffusons in the crystal phases depends on pressure in the same way as that in amorphous states, thus indicating that the same mechanism is responsible for this channel of heat transfer in crystals and amorphous states.

Impact of surface roughness on liquid-liquid transition

Liquid-liquid transition (LLT) in single-component liquids is one of the most mysterious phenomena in condensed matter. So far, this problem has attracted attention mainly from the fundamental viewpoint. We report the first experimental study on an impact of surface nanostructuring on LLT by using a surface treatment called rubbing, which is the key technology for the production of liquid crystal displays. We find that this rubbing treatment has a significant impact on the kinetics of LLT of an isotropic molecular liquid, triphenyl phosphite. For a liquid confined between rubbed surfaces, surface-induced barrierless formation of the liquid II phase is observed even in a metastable state, where there should be a barrier for nucleation of the liquid II phase in bulk. Thus, surface rubbing of substrates not only changes the ordering behavior but also significantly accelerates the kinetics. This spatiotemporal pattern modulation of LLT can be explained by a wedge-filling transition and the resulting drastic reduction of the nucleation barrier. However, this effect completely disappears in the unstable (spinodal) regime, indicating the absence of the activation barrier even for bulk LLT. This confirms the presence of nucleation-growth- and spinodal decomposition-type LLT, supporting the conclusion that LLT is truly a first-order transition with criticality. Our finding also opens up a new way to control the kinetics of LLT of a liquid confined in a solid cell by structuring its surface on a mesoscopic length scale, which may contribute to making LLT useful for microfluidics and other industrial applications.

Microscopic identification of the order parameter governing liquid-liquid transition in a molecular liquid

A liquid-liquid transition (LLT) in a single-component substance is an unconventional phase transition from one liquid to another. LLT has recently attracted considerable attention because of its fundamental importance in our understanding of the liquid state. To access the order parameter governing LLT from a microscopic viewpoint, here we follow the structural evolution during the LLT of an organic molecular liquid, triphenyl phosphite (TPP), by time-resolved small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering measurements. We find that locally favored clusters, whose characteristic size is a few nanometers, are spontaneously formed and their number density monotonically increases during LLT. This strongly suggests that the order parameter of LLT is the number density of locally favored structures and of nonconserved nature. We also show that the locally favored structures are distinct from the crystal structure and these two types of orderings compete with each other. Thus, our study not only experimentally identifies the structural order parameter governing LLT, but also may settle a long-standing debate on the nature of the transition in TPP, i.e., whether the transition is LLT or merely microcrystal formation.

Order Parameter of the Liquid-Liquid Transition in a Molecular Liquid

Liquid-liquid transitions (LLTs) between amorphous phases of a single (chemically unchanged) liquid were predicted to occur in most molecular liquids but have only been observed in triphenyl phosphite (TPP) and n-butanol, and even these examples have been dismissed as "aborted crystallization". One of the foremost reasons that LLTs remain so controversial is the lack of an obvious order parameter, that is, a physical parameter characterizing the phase transition. Here, using the technique of fluorescence lifetime imaging, we show for the first time that the LLT in TPP is characterized by a change in polarity linked to changes in molecular ordering associated with crystal polymorphs. We conclude that the LLT in TPP is a phase transition associated with frustrated molecular clusters, explaining the paucity of examples of LLTs seen in nature.

A Review of High-Energy X-Ray Diffraction from Glasses and Liquids

This paper summarizes the scientific trends associated with the rapid development of the technique of high-energy X-ray diffraction over the past decade pertaining to the field of liquids, glasses, and amorphous materials. The measurement of high-quality X-ray structure factors out to large momentum transfers leads to high-resolution pair distribution functions which can be directly compared to theory or combined with data from other experimental techniques. The advantages of combining highly penetrating radiation with low angle scattering are outlined together with the data analysis procedure and formalism. Also included are advances in high-energy synchrotron beamline instrumentation, sample environment equipment, and an overview of the role of simulation and modeling for interpreting data from disordered materials. Several examples of recent trends in glass and liquid research are described. Finally, directions for future research are considered within the context of past and current developments in the field.

Surface-wetting effects on the liquid-liquid transition of a single-component molecular liquid

Even a single-component liquid may have more than two liquid states. The transition between them is called a 'liquid–liquid transition' (LLT). Such LLTs have recently attracted considerable attention mainly because of the fundamental interest in the physical origin of this counter-intuitive phenomenon. In this study, we report the first observation of wetting effects on LLT for a molecular liquid, triphenyl phosphite. We find a transition from partial to complete wetting for nucleation-growth-type LLT when approaching the spinodal temperature of LLT. Some features unique to LLT are also revealed, reflecting for example the non-conserved nature of its order parameter. We also find that the wetting behaviour is not induced by dispersion forces, but by weak hydrogen bonding to a solid substrate, implying its important role in the LLT itself. Using wetting effects may open a new possibility to control kinetics and spatial patterns of nucleation-growth-type LLT.

A phase transition between two liquid states is a counterintuitive phenomenon, but one that is known to happen in certain materials. Murata and Tanaka now show in tryphenyl phosphite that this can also produce a change in the wetting of a surface, from partial to complete, at the transition temperature.

Comment on 'Microscopic structural evolution during the liquid-liquid transition in triphenyl phosphite' by R Kurita, Y Shinohara, Y Amemiya and H Tanaka J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 19 (2007) 152101

In the communication by Kurita et al 2007 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 19 152101, peaks in the liquid diffraction pattern of triphenyl phosphite have been attributed to intermolecular phosphor-phosphor distances. Based on our previous neutron and x-ray diffraction studies we argue that this assignment is incorrect and the peak contributions are likely to be much more complex.