Pronounced negative thermal expansion from a simple structure: cubic ScF(3).
Scandium trifluoride maintains a cubic ReO(3) type structure down to at least 10 K, although the pressure at which its cubic to rhombohedral phase transition occurs drops from >0.5 GPa at ∼300 K to 0.1-0.2 GPa at 50 K. At low temperatures it shows strong negative thermal expansion (NTE) (60-110 K, α(l) ≈ -14 ppm K(-1)). On heating, its coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) smoothly increases, leading to a room temperature CTE that is similar to that of ZrW(2)O(8) and positive thermal expansion above ∼1100 K. While the cubic ReO(3) structure type is often used as a simple illustration of how negative thermal expansion can arise from the thermally induced rocking of rigid structural units, ScF(3) is the first material with this structure to provide a clear experimental illustration of this mechanism for NTE.
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
Benjamin K
BK
Greve
Kenneth L
KL
Martin
Peter L
PL
Lee
Peter J
PJ
Chupas
Karena W
KW
Chapman
Angus P
AP
Wilkinson