skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Title: Driving Barocaloric Effects in a Molecular Spin-Crossover Complex at Low Pressures
Barocaloric effectsthermal changes in a material induced by applied hydrostatic pressureoffer promise for creating solid-state refrigerants as alternatives to conventional volatile refrigerants. To enable efficient and scalable barocaloric cooling, materials that undergo high-entropy, reversible phase transitions in the solid state in response to a small change in pressure are needed. Here, we report that pressure-induced spin-crossover (SCO) transitions in the molecular iron(II) complex Fe[HB(tz)3]2 (HB(tz)3− = bis[hydrotris(1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)borate]) drive giant and reversible barocaloric effects at easily accessible pressures. Specifically, high-pressure calorimetry and powder X-ray diffraction studies reveal that pressure shifts as low as 10 bar reversibly induce nonzero isothermal entropy changes, and a pressure shift of 150 bar reversibly induces a large isothermal entropy change (>90 J kg−1 K−1) and adiabatic temperature change (>2 K). Moreover, we demonstrate that the thermodynamics of the SCO transition can be fine-tuned through systematic deuteration of the tris(triazolyl)borate ligand. These results provide new insights into pressure-induced SCO transitions and further establish SCO materials as promising barocaloric materials.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2011754
PAR ID:
10501562
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
ACS
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of the American Chemical Society
Volume:
144
Issue:
14
ISSN:
0002-7863
Page Range / eLocation ID:
6493 to 6503
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Barocaloric effects─solid-state thermal changes induced by the application and removal of hydrostatic pressure─offer the potential for energy-efficient heating and cooling without relying on volatile refrigerants. Here, we report that dialkylammonium halides─organic salts featuring bilayers of alkyl chains templated through hydrogen bonds to halide anions─display large, reversible, and tunable barocaloric effects near ambient temperature. The conformational flexibility and soft nature of the weakly confined hydrocarbons give rise to order–disorder phase transitions in the solid state that are associated with substantial entropy changes (>200 J kg–1 K–1) and high sensitivity to pressure (>24 K kbar–1), the combination of which drives strong barocaloric effects at relatively low pressures. Through high-pressure calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy, we investigate the structural factors that influence pressure-induced phase transitions of select dialkylammonium halides and evaluate the magnitude and reversibility of their barocaloric effects. Furthermore, we characterize the cyclability of thin-film samples under aggressive conditions (heating rate of 3500 K s–1 and over 11,000 cycles) using nanocalorimetry. Taken together, these results establish dialkylammonium halides as a promising class of pressure-responsive thermal materials. 
    more » « less
  2. Refrigeration is of vital importance for modern society—for example, for food storage and air conditioning—and 25 to 30 per cent of the world’s electricity is consumed for refrigeration1. Current refrigeration technology mostly involves the conventional vapour compression cycle, but the materials used in this technology are of growing environmental concern because of their large global warming potential2. As a promising alternative, refrigeration technologies based on solid-state caloric effects have been attracting attention in recent decades3,4,5. However, their application is restricted by the limited performance of current caloric materials, owing to small isothermal entropy changes and large driving magnetic fields. Here we report colossal barocaloric effects (CBCEs) (barocaloric effects are cooling effects of pressure-induced phase transitions) in a class of disordered solids called plastic crystals. The obtained entropy changes in a representative plastic crystal, neopentylglycol, are about 389 joules per kilogram per kelvin near room temperature. Pressure-dependent neutron scattering measurements reveal that CBCEs in plastic crystals can be attributed to the combination of extensive molecular orientational disorder, giant compressibility and highly anharmonic lattice dynamics of these materials. Our study establishes the microscopic mechanism of CBCEs in plastic crystals and paves the way to next-generation solid-state refrigeration technologies. 
    more » « less
  3. Abstract A giant barocaloric effect (BCE) in a molecular material Fe3(bntrz)6(tcnset)6(FBT) is reported, where bntrz = 4‐(benzyl)‐1,2,4‐triazole and tcnset = 1,1,3,3‐tetracyano‐2‐thioethylepropenide. The crystal structure of FBT contains a trinuclear transition metal complex that undergoes an abrupt spin‐state switching between the state in which all three FeIIcenters are in the high‐spin (S = 2) electronic configuration and the state in which all of them are in the low‐spin (S = 0) configuration. Despite the strongly cooperative nature of the spin transition, it proceeds with a negligible hysteresis and a large volumetric change, suggesting that FBT should be a good candidate for producing a large BCE. Powder X‐ray diffraction and calorimetry reveal that the material is highly susceptible to applied pressure, as the transition temperature spans the range from 318 at ambient pressure to 383 K at 2.6 kbar. Despite the large shift in the spin‐transition temperature, its nonhysteretic character is maintained under applied pressure. Such behavior leads to a remarkably large and reversible BCE, characterized by an isothermal entropy change of 120 J kg−1K−1and an adiabatic temperature change of 35 K, which are among the highest reversible values reported for any caloric material thus far. 
    more » « less
  4. Liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) are soft materials that associate order and deformation. Upon deformation, mechanically induced changes order affect entropy and can produce a caloric output (elastocaloric). Elastocaloric effects in materials continue to be considered for functional use as solid state refrigerants. Prior elastocaloric investigations of LCEs and related materials have measured ≈2 °C temperature changes upon deformation (100% strain). Here, the elastocaloric response of LCEs is explored that are prepared with a subambient nematic to isotropic transition temperature. These materials are referred as “isotropic” liquid crystalline elastomers. The LCEs are prepared by a two‐step thiol‐Michael/thiol‐ene reaction. This polymer network chemistry enhances elastic recovery and reduces hysteresis compared to acrylate‐based chemistries. The LCEs exhibit appreciable elastocaloric temperature changes upon deformation and recovery (> ± 3 °C, total ΔTof 6 °C) to deformation driven by minimal force (<< 1 MPa). Notably, the strong association of deformation and order and the resulting temperature change attained at low force achieves a responsivity of 14 °C MPa−1which is seven times greater than natural rubber. 
    more » « less
  5. null (Ed.)
    Spin crossover (SCO) is a phenomenon observed for certain transition metal complexes with electronic configuration 3d4-3d7. The conversion between the low-spin (LS) and high-spin (HS) states is usually driven by a variety of external perturbations, such as temperature, pressure, or light. The switching between the enthalpically preferred LS state and entropically favorable HS state is accompanied by dramatic changes in the metal-ligand bond lengths, unit cell volume, optical absorption spectrum, and magnetic susceptibility.1 These changes make SCO materials suitable for applications in sensors, memory, and display devices. One of the central challenges in the SCO research is to initiate strongly cooperative interactions known to lead to abrupt spin transitions and thermal hysteresis that can be harvested as a memory effect. One of the strategies to enhance the cooperativity is to design SCO complexes with supramolecular interactions such as π-stacking of aromatic fragments or hydrogen bonding.2 In this work, we report syntheses and characterization of heteroleptic complexes of [Fe(tpma)(L)](ClO4)2 (tpma = tris(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)amine) with novel π-extended biimidazole-type ligands (L) bearing 2,3-dimethyl-naphthalene-, 6,7-dimethyl-2,3-diphenyl-quinoxaline, and 2,3-dimethyl-anthracene pendant fragments. Solvent-free naphthalene-functionalized complex [Fe(tpma)(xnap-bim)](ClO4)2 exhibits abrupt spin transition at T1/2 = 127K with a narrow 1 K hysteresis loop. In contrast, polymorph of this complex that contains one interstitial molecules of pyridine exhibits gradual SCO. Anthracene-functionalized complex [Fe(tpma)(anthra-bim)](ClO4)2 also crystallizes as two polymorphs. Structural studies at 100, 230, and 300 K revealed dramatic changes in the N-Fe-N biting angles and Fe-N distances, indicating the occurrence of temperature-induced SCO. Complex [Fe(tpma)(quin-bim)](ClO4)2 (quin-bim = 6,7-dimethyl-2,3-diphenyl-quinoxaline-2,2’-biimidazole) showed only HS state at 100 and 230 K. In the crystal packing the mononuclear cations form stacks along b axis. We discuss how the observed magnetic behavior correlates with changes in the crystal packing and interactions between the pendant aromatic substituents on the aforementioned complexes. 
    more » « less