Rational design of materials with extreme negative compressibility: selective soft-mode frustration in KMn[Ag(CN)2]3

Andrew B Cairns; Amber L Thompson; Matthew G Tucker; Julien Haines; Andrew L Goodwin

doi:10.1021/ja204908m

Rational design of materials with extreme negative compressibility: selective soft-mode frustration in KMn[Ag(CN)2]3

J Am Chem Soc. 2012 Mar 14;134(10):4454-6. doi: 10.1021/ja204908m. Epub 2011 Jul 27.

Authors

Andrew B Cairns¹, Amber L Thompson, Matthew G Tucker, Julien Haines, Andrew L Goodwin

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QR, UK.

PMID: 21776962
DOI: 10.1021/ja204908m

Abstract

We show that KMn[Ag(CN)(2)](3) exhibits the strongest negative linear compressibility (NLC) effect over the largest pressure range yet observed. Variable pressure neutron powder diffraction measurements reveal that its crystal lattice expands along the c axis of its trigonal cell under increasing hydrostatic pressure, while contracting along the a axis. This corresponds to a "wine-rack"-like mechanism for NLC that we find also results in anisotropic negative thermal expansion (NTE) in the same material. Inclusion of extra-framework K(+) counterions has minimal effect on framework flexibility (and hence the magnitude of NTE/NLC) but selectively frustrates the soft phonon modes responsible for destroying NLC in the related material Ag(3)[Co(CN)(6)].