Glassy Anomalies in the Low-Temperature Thermal Properties of a Minimally Disordered Crystalline Solid

Orientational Disorder and Molecular Correlations in Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Perovskites: From Fundamental Insights to Technological Applications

Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites (HOIP) have emerged in recent years as highly promising semiconducting materials for a wide range of optoelectronic and energy applications. Nevertheless, the rotational dynamics of the organic components and many-molecule interdependencies, which may strongly impact the functional properties of HOIP, are not yet fully understood. In this study, we quantitatively analyze the orientational disorder and molecular correlations in archetypal perovskite CH3NH3PbI3 (MAPI) by performing comprehensive molecular dynamics simulations and entropy calculations. We found that, in addition to the usual vibrational and orientational contributions, rigid molecular rotations around the C-N axis and correlations between neighboring molecules noticeably contribute to the entropy increment associated with the temperature-induced order-disorder phase transition, ΔSt. Molecular conformational changes are equally infrequent in the low-T ordered and high-T disordered phases and have a null effect on ΔSt. Conversely, the couplings between the angular and vibrational degrees of freedom are substantially reinforced in the high-T disordered phase and significantly counteract the phase-transition entropy increase resulting from other factors. Furthermore, the tendency for neighboring molecules to be orientationally ordered is markedly local, consequently inhibiting the formation of extensive polar nanodomains at both low and high temperatures. This theoretical investigation not only advances the fundamental knowledge of HOIP but also establishes physically insightful connections with contemporary technological applications like photovoltaics, solid-state cooling, and energy storage.

Boson-Peak-Like Anomaly Induced by Dipole Disordered States in (CH_{3}NH_{3})_{4}InCl_{7}

Boson peaks are observed in glassy materials due to atom, spin, and strain disordered states that provide additional vibration modes at low temperatures. However, Boson peaks have not been observed in pure dipole disordered systems without structural disorder. Here, we report the observation of a Boson-peak-like hump in specific heat near 7 K in organic-inorganic hybrid crystal MA_{4}InCl_{7}(MA=CH_{3}NH_{3}). The energy barrier for unbonded Cl anions migration is extremely low, allowing that the migration persists down to low temperatures. The migration and the subsequent relaxation process induce a random change in its dipole, leading to the dipole disorder states. Our results show that MA_{4}InCl_{7} can be regarded as a dipole glass that can give rise to the Boson peak as well.

Cause, Consequence, and Control of Ag Vacancies in BaAg2-xAs2

The impact of transition metal (Ag) deficiencies on the structural and transport properties of ThCr2Si2-type arsenides are investigated. We experimentally confirm a partial occupancy of Ag in BaAg2-xAs2, which can be predictably controlled within 0.053(5) ≤ x ≤ 0.19(1) by varying the quenching temperature during the crystal growth. Density functional theory calculations reveal that substoichiometric concentrations of Ag lower the density of states at the Fermi level, providing an electronic cause for the tendency of Ag to form vacancies. This vacancy concentration is linked to a characteristic kink in electrical resistivity that can be substantially shifted from 22 to 125 K and is established as the metric of a low-temperature structural phase transition (SPT) in BaAg2-xAs2. Along with electrical resistivity, the Seebeck coefficient and heat capacity for selected BaAg2-xAs2 samples are presented, which also exhibit anomalies due to the SPT.

Dynamics and local ordering of pentachloronitrobenzene: a molecular-dynamics investigation

Plastic phases are constituted by molecules whose centers of mass form a long range ordered crystalline lattice, but rotate in a more or less constrained way. Pentachloronitrobenzene (PCNB) is a quasi-planar hexa-substituted benzene formed by a benzene ring decorated with a -NO2 group and five chlorine atoms that displays below the melting point a layered structure of rhombohedral (R3̄) planes in which the molecules can rotate around a six-fold-like axis. Dielectric spectroscopy [Romanini et al., The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2016, 120, 10614] of this highly anisotropic phase revealed a complex relaxation dynamics with two coupled primary α processes, initially ascribed to the in-plane and out-of-plane components of the molecular dipole. In this work, we perform a series of molecular dynamics simulations together with single crystal X-ray synchrotron diffraction experiments to investigate the puzzling dynamics of PCNB. We conclude that the molecule undergoes very fast movements due to the high flexibility of the -NO2 group, and two slower movements in which only the in-plane rotation of the whole ring is involved. These two movements are related to fast attempts to perform a 60° in-plane rotation, and a diffusive motion that involves the rotation of the molecule completely decorrelating the dipole orientation. We have also investigated whether a homogeneous or a heterogeneous scenario is better suited to describe the restricted orientational disorder of this anisotropic phase both from a structural and dynamical point of view.

Disordered Crystals Reveal Soft Quasilocalized Glassy Excitations

Structural glasses formed by quenching a melt are known to host a population of low-energy quasilocalized (nonphononic) excitations whose frequencies ω follow a universal ∼ω^{4} distribution as ω→0, independently of the glass formation history, the interparticle interaction potential, or spatial dimension. Here, we show that the universal quartic law of nonphononic excitations also holds in disordered crystals featuring finite long-range order, which is absent in their glassy counterparts. We thus establish that the degree of universality of the quartic law extends beyond structural glasses quenched from a melt. We further find that disordered crystals, whose level of disorder can be continuously controlled, host many more quasilocalized excitations than expected based on their degree of mechanical disorder-quantified by the relative fluctuations of the shear modulus-as compared to structural glasses featuring a similar degree of mechanical disorder. Our results are related to glasslike anomalies experimentally observed in disordered crystals. More broadly, they constitute an important step toward tracing the essential ingredients necessary for the emergence of universal nonphononic excitations in disordered solids.

Role of Optical Phonons and Anharmonicity in the Appearance of the Heat Capacity Boson Peak-like Anomaly in Fully Ordered Molecular Crystals

We demonstrate that the heat capacity Boson peak (BP)-like anomaly appearing in fully ordered anharmonic molecular crystals emerges as a result of the strong interactions between propagating (acoustic) and low-energy quasi-localized (optical) phonons. In particular, we experimentally determine the low-temperature (<30 K) specific heat of the molecular crystal benzophenone and those of several of its fully ordered bromine derivatives. Subsequently, by means of theoretical first-principles methods based on density functional theory, we estimate the corresponding phonon dispersions and vibrational density of states. Our results reveal two possible mechanisms for the emergence of the BP-like anomaly: (i) acoustic-optic phonon avoided crossing, which gives rise to a pseudo-van Hove singularity in the acoustic phonon branches, and (ii) piling up of low-frequency optical phonons, which are quasi degenerate with longitudinal acoustic modes and lead to a surge in the vibrational density of states at low energies.

Boson-peak-like anomaly caused by transverse phonon softening in strain glass

Strain glass is a glassy state with frozen ferroelastic/martensitic nanodomains in shape memory alloys, yet its nature remains unclear. Here, we report a glassy feature in strain glass that was thought to be only present in structural glasses. An abnormal hump is observed in strain glass around 10 K upon normalizing the specific heat by cubed temperature, similar to the boson peak in metallic glass. The simulation studies show that this boson-peak-like anomaly is caused by the phonon softening of the non-transforming matrix surrounding martensitic domains, which occurs in a transverse acoustic branch not associated with the martensitic transformation displacements. Therefore, this anomaly neither is a relic of van Hove singularity nor can be explained by other theories relying on structural disorder, while it verifies a recent theoretical model without any assumptions of disorder. This work might provide fresh insights in understanding the nature of glassy states and associated vibrational properties.

Heat capacity anomalies of the molecular crystal 1-fluoro-adamantane at low temperatures

Disorder-disorder phase transitions are rare in nature. Here, we present a comprehensive low-temperature experimental and theoretical study of the heat capacity and vibrational density of states of 1-fluoro-adamantane (C₁₀H₁₅F), an intriguing molecular crystal that presents a continuous disorder-disorder phase transition at T = 180 K and a low-temperature tetragonal phase that exhibits fractional fluorine occupancy. It is shown that fluorine occupancy disorder in the low-T phase of 1-fluoro-adamantane gives rise to the appearance of low-temperature glassy features in the corresponding specific heat (i.e., "boson peak" -BP-) and vibrational density of states. We identify the inflation of low-energy optical modes as the main responsible for the appearance of such glassy heat-capacity features and propose a straightforward correlation between the first localized optical mode and maximum BP temperature for disordered molecular crystals (either occupational or orientational). Thus, the present study provides new physical insights into the possible origins of the BP appearing in disordered materials and expands the set of molecular crystals in which "glassy-like" heat-capacity features have been observed.

Low-Temperature Heat Capacity Anomalies in Ordered and Disordered Phases of Normal and Deuterated Thiophene

We measured the specific heat C_p of normal (C₄H₄S) and deuterated (C₄D₄S) thiophene in the temperature interval of 1 ≤ T, K ≤ 25. C₄H₄S exhibits a metastable phase II₂ and a stable phase V, both with frozen orientational disorder (OD), whereas C₄D₄S exhibits a metastable phase II₂, which is analogous to the OD phase II₂ of C₄H₄S and a fully ordered stable phase V. Our measurements demonstrate the existence of a large bump in the heat capacity of both stable and metastable C₄D₄S and C₄H₄S phases at temperatures of ∼10 K, which significantly departs from the expected Debye temperature behavior of C_p ≈ T³. This case study demonstrates that the identified low-temperature C_p anomaly, typically referred to as a "Boson-peak" in the context of glassy crystals, is not exclusive of disordered materials.

New paradigm for glassy-like anomalies in solids from fundamental symmetries

Glasses and disordered materials are known to display anomalous features in the density of states, in the specific heat and in thermal transport. Nevertheless, in recent years, the question whether these properties are really anomalous (and peculiar of disordered systems) or rather more universal than previously thought, has emerged. New experimental and theoretical observations have questioned the origin of the boson peak (BP) and the linear in T specific heat exclusively from disorder and two-level systems (TLS). The same properties have been indeed observed in ordered or minimally disordered compounds and in incommensurate structures for which the standard explanations are not applicable. Using the formal analogy between phason modes (e.g., in quasicrystals and incommensurate lattices) and diffusions, and between amplitude modes and optical phonons, we suggest the existence of a more universal physics behind these properties. In particular, we strengthen the idea that linear in T specific heat is linked to low energy diffusive modes resulting from fundamental symmetries, and that a BP excess can be induced in crystals either by gapped optical-like modes and/or by anharmonic diffusive (Akhiezer) damping.

Physics of phonon-polaritons in amorphous materials

The nature of bosonic excitations in disordered materials has remained elusive due to the difficulties in defining key concepts such as quasi-particles in the presence of disorder. We report on an experimental observation of phonon-polaritons in glasses, including a prominent boson peak (BP), i.e., excess of THz modes over the Debye law. A theoretical framework based on the concept of diffusons is developed to describe the broadening linewidth of the polariton due to disorder-induced scattering. It is shown here for the first time that the BP frequency and the Ioffe-Regel (IR) crossover frequency of the polariton collapse onto the same power-law decay with the diffusivity of the bosonic excitation. This analysis dismisses the hypothesis of the BP being caused by a relic of the van Hove singularity. The presented framework establishes a new methodology to analyze bosonic excitations in amorphous media, well beyond the traditional case of acoustic phonons, and establishes the IR crossover as the fundamental physical mechanism behind the BP.

Detection of boson peak and fractal dynamics of disordered systems using terahertz spectroscopy

The boson peak is a largely unexplained excitation found universally in the terahertz vibrational spectra of disordered systems; the so-called fracton is a vibrational excitation associated with the self-similar structure of monomers in polymeric glasses. We demonstrate that such excitations can be detected using terahertz spectroscopy. In the case of fractal structures, we determine the infrared light-vibration coupling coefficient for the fracton region and show that information concerning the fractal and fracton dimensions appears in the exponent of the absorption coefficient. Finally, using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy and low-frequency Raman scattering, we experimentally observe these universal excitations in a protein (lysozyme) system that has an intrinsically disordered and fractal structure and argue that the system should be considered a single supramolecule. These findings are applicable to amorphous and fractal objects in general and will be valuable for understanding universal dynamics of disordered systems via terahertz light.

Are universal “anomalous” properties of glasses at low temperatures truly universal?

The specific heat Cp and other properties of glasses (ranging from amorphous solids to disordered crystals) at low temperatures are well known to be markedly different from those in fully-ordered crystals. For decades, this qualitative, and even quantitative, universal behavior of glasses has been thoroughly studied. However, a clear understanding of its origin and microscopic nature, needless to say, a closed theory, is still lacking. To shed light on this matter, I review the situation in this work, mainly by compiling and discussing measured low-temperature Cp data of many glasses and disordered crystals, as well as highlighting a few exceptions to that “universality rule”. Thus, one can see that, in contrast to other low-temperature properties of glasses, the magnitude of the “glassy” Cp excess at low temperature is far from being universal. Even worse, some molecular crystals without a clear sign of disorder exhibit linear coefficients in Cp larger than those found in many amorphous solids, whereas a few of the latter show negligible values.

Universal Origin of Boson Peak Vibrational Anomalies in Ordered Crystals and in Amorphous Materials

The vibrational spectra of solids, both ordered and amorphous, in the low-energy regime, control the thermal and transport properties of materials, from heat capacity to heat conduction, electron-phonon couplings, conventional superconductivity, etc. The old Debye model of vibrational spectra at low energy gives the vibrational density of states (VDOS) as proportional to the frequency squared, but in many materials the spectrum departs from this law which results in a peak upon normalizing the VDOS by frequency squared, which is known as the "boson peak." A description of the VDOS of solids (both crystals and glasses) is presented starting from first principles. Without using any assumptions whatsoever of disorder in the material, it is shown that the boson peak in the VDOS of both ordered crystals and glasses arises naturally from the competition between elastic mode propagation and diffusive damping. The theory explains the recent experimental observations of boson peak in perfectly ordered crystals, which cannot be explained based on previous theoretical frameworks. The theory also explains, for the first time, how the vibrational spectrum changes with the atomic density of the solid, and explains recent experimental observations of this effect.

Glassy, Gardner-like phenomenology in minimally polydisperse crystalline systems

We report on a nonequilibrium phase of matter, the minimally disordered crystal phase, which we find exists between the maximally amorphous glasses and the ideal crystal. Even though these near crystals appear highly ordered, they display glassy and jamming features akin to those observed in amorphous solids. Structurally, they exhibit a power-law scaling in their probability distribution of weak forces and small interparticle gaps as well as a flat density of vibrational states. Dynamically, they display anomalous aging above a characteristic pressure. Quantitatively, this disordered crystal phase has much in common with the Gardner-like phase seen in maximally disordered solids. Near crystals should be amenable to experimental realizations in commercially available particulate systems and are to be indispensable in verifying the theory of amorphous materials.

Instability and thermal conductivity of pressure-densified and elastically altered orientational glass of Buckminsterfullerene

We report on the temperature, pressure, and time (T, p, and t)-dependent features of thermal conductivity, κ, of partially ordered, non-equilibrium state of C₆₀-OG, the orientational glass of Buckminsterfullerene (at T below the orientational freezing temperature T_og) made more unstable (i) by partially depressurizing its high-p formed state to elastically expand it and (ii) by further pressurizing that state to elastically contract it. The sub-T_og effects observed on heating of C₆₀-OG differ from those of glasses because phonon propagation depends on the ratio of two well-defined orientational states of C₆₀ molecules and the density of the solid. A broad peak-like feature appears at T near T_og in the κ-T plots of C₆₀-OG formed at 0.7 GPa, depressurized to 0.2 GPa and heated at 0.2 GPa, which we attribute to partial overlap of the sub-T_og and T_og features. A sub-T_og local minimum appears in the κ-T plots at T well below T_og of C₆₀-OG formed at 0.1 GPa, pressurized to 0.5 GPa and heated at 0.5 GPa and it corresponds to the state of maximum disorder. Although Buckminsterfullerene is regarded as an orientationally disordered crystal, variation of its properties with T and p is qualitatively different from other such crystals. We discuss the findings in terms of the nature of its disorder, sensitivity of its rotational dynamics to temperature, and the absence of the Johari-Goldstein relaxation. All seem to affect the phenomenology of its glass-like transition.