Zero thermal expansion in a nanostructured inorganic-organic hybrid crystal.
There are very few materials that exhibit zero thermal expansion (ZTE), and of these even fewer are appropriate for electronic and optoelectronic applications. We find that a multifunctional crystalline hybrid inorganic-organic semiconductor, beta-ZnTe(en)(0.5) (en denotes ethylenediamine), shows uniaxial ZTE in a very broad temperature range of 4-400 K, and concurrently possesses superior electronic and optical properties. The ZTE behavior is a result of compensation of contraction and expansion of different segments along the inorganic-organic stacking axis. This work suggests an alternative route to designing materials in a nanoscopic scale with ZTE or any desired positive or negative thermal expansion (PTE or NTE), which is supported by preliminary data for ZnTe(pda)(0.5) (pda denotes 1,3-propanediamine) with a larger molecule.
Zhang
Y
Y
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Boulevard, Golden, Colorado 80401, USA. yong_zhang@nrel.gov
Islam
Z
Z
Ren
Y
Y
Parilla
P A
PA
Ahrenkiel
S P
SP
Lee
P L
PL
Mascarenhas
A
A
McNevin
M J
MJ
Naumov
I
I
Fu
H-X
HX
Huang
X-Y
XY
Li
J
J