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Mobilization upon Cooling
Author(s) -
Aeschlimann Simon,
Lyu Lu,
Becker Sebastian,
Mousavion Sina,
Speck Thomas,
Elmers HansJoachim,
Stadtmüller Benjamin,
Aeschlimann Martin,
Bechstein Ralf,
Kühnle Angelika
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.202105100
Subject(s) - phase transition , phase (matter) , chemical physics , degrees of freedom (physics and chemistry) , molybdenum , molecule , adsorption , materials science , chemistry , thermodynamics , metallurgy , physics , organic chemistry
Phase transitions between different aggregate states are omnipresent in nature and technology. Conventionally, a crystalline phase melts upon heating as we use ice to cool a drink. Already in 1903, Gustav Tammann speculated about the opposite process, namely melting upon cooling. So far, evidence for such “inverse” transitions in real materials is rare and limited to few systems or extreme conditions. Here, we demonstrate an inverse phase transition for molecules adsorbed on a surface. Molybdenum tetraacetate on copper(111) forms an ordered structure at room temperature, which dissolves upon cooling. This transition is mediated by molecules becoming mobile, i.e., by mobilization upon cooling. This unexpected phenomenon is ascribed to the larger number of internal degrees of freedom in the ordered phase compared to the mobile phase at low temperatures.