High-Pressure Phase Transitions of PbTe Using the First-Principles Calculations

High-pressure structural phase transitions in PbTe are investigated by means of the first principles total energy calculations within the generalized gradient approximation （GOAl and local density approximation CLDA） by using the density functional theory. First principle calculation shows that PbTe is stable with the NaCl-type （B1） structure under amSient conditions and transforms to the CsCl-type （B2） structure under high pressure via an intermediate phase. Two candidate structures of the intermediate phase, namely Prima and Cmcm, are chosen for total energy calculations and discussed. It indicates that the intermediate phase adopts the Pnma structure rather than the Cmcm structure, and lattice parameters of the Pnma phase calculated by using OGA and LDA are in consistent with experimental results.

Significantly enhanced thermal stability of HMX by phase-transition lysozyme coating

A new robust bio-inspired route by using lysozyme aqueous solution for surface modification on 1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocane(HMX)was described in this paper.HMX crystals were coated by in situ phase transition of lysozyme(PTL)molecules.The HMX decorated by PTL was characterized by SEM,XRD,FTIR and XPS,demonstrating a dense core-shell coating layer.The coverage of lysozyme on HMX crystal was calculated by the ratio of sulfur content.The surface coverage increased from 60.5% to 93.5% when the content of PTL was changed from 0.5 wt% to 2.0 wt%,indicating efficient coating.The thermal stability of HMX was investigated by in situ XRD and DSC.The thermal phase transition temperature of HMX(β to δ phase)was delayed by 42℃ with 2.0 wt% PTL coating,which prevented HMX from thermal damage and sensitivity by the effect of PTL coating.After heating at 215℃,large cracks appeared in the naked HMX crystal,while the PTL coated HMX still maintained intact,with the impact energy of HMX dropped dramatically from 5 J to 2 J.However,the impact energy of HMX with 1.0 wt% and 2.0 wt% coating content(HMX@PTL-1.0 and HMX@PTL-2.0)was unchanged(5 J).Present results potentially enable large-scale fabrication of polymorphic energetic materials with outstanding thermal stability by novel lysozyme coating.

Detecting the quantum phase transition from the perspective of quantum information in the Aubry–André model

We investigate the effectiveness of entropic uncertainty, entanglement and steering in discerning quantum phase transitions(QPTs). Specifically, we observe significant fluctuations in entropic uncertainty as the driving parameter traverses the phase transition point. It is observed that the entropic uncertainty, entanglement and quantum steering, based on the electron distribution probability, can serve as indicators for detecting QPTs. Notably, we reveal an intriguing anticorrelation relationship between entropic uncertainty and entanglement in the Aubry–André model. Moreover, we explore the feasibility of detecting a QPT when the period parameter is a rational number. These observations open up new and efficient avenues for probing QPTs.

Comparative study on phase transition behaviors of fractional molecular field theory and random-site Ising model

Fractional molecular field theory(FMFT)is a phenomenological theory that describes phase transitions in crystals with randomly distributed components,such as the relaxor-ferroelectrics and spin glasses.In order to verify the feasibility of this theory,this paper fits it to the Monte Carlo simulations of specific heat and susceptibility versus temperature of two-dimensional(2D)random-site Ising model(2D-RSIM).The results indicate that the FMFT deviates from the 2D-RSIM significantly.The main reason for the deviation is that the 2D-RSIM is a typical system of component random distribution,where the real order parameter is spatially heterogeneous and has no symmetry of space translation,but the basic assumption of FMFT means that the parameter is spatially uniform and has symmetry of space translation.

The Negative Thermal Expansion Property of NdMnO_(3) Based on Pores Effect and Phase Transition

A novel negative thermal expansion(NTE) material NdMnO_(3) was synthesized by solid-state method at 1 523 K. The crystal structure, phase transition, pores effect and negative expansion properties of NdMnO_(3) were investigated by variable temperature X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscope(SEM) and variable temperature Raman spectra. The compound exhibits NTE properties in the orderly O' phase crystal structure. When the temperature is from 293 to 759 K, the ceramic NdMnO_(3) shows negative thermal expansion of-4.7×10^(-6)/K. As temperature increases, the ceramic NdMnO_(3) presents NTE property range from 759 to 1 007 K. The average linear expansion coefficient is-18.88×10^(-6)/K. The physical mechanism of NTE is discussed and clarified through experiments.

Triple points and phase transitions of D-dimensional dyonic Ad S black holes with quasitopological electromagnetism in Einstein–Gauss–Bonnet gravity

By considering the negative cosmological constant Λ as a thermodynamic pressure, we study the thermodynamics and phase transitions of the D-dimensional dyonic Ad S black holes(BHs) with quasitopological electromagnetism in Einstein–Gauss–Bonnet(EGB) gravity. The results indicate that the small/large BH phase transition that is similar to the van der Waals(vdW) liquid/gas phase transition always exists for any spacetime dimensions. Interestingly, we then find that this BH system exhibits a more complex phase structure in 6-dimensional case that is missed in other dimensions.Specifically, it shows for D = 6 that we observed the small/intermediate/large BH phase transitions in a specific parameter region with the triple point naturally appeared. Moreover, when the magnetic charge turned off, we still observed the small/intermediate/large BH phase transitions and triple point only in 6-dimensional spacetime, which is consistent with the previous results. However, for the dyonic Ad S BHs with quasitopological electromagnetism in Einstein–Born–Infeld(EBI) gravity, the novel phase structure composed of two separate coexistence curves observed by Li et al. [Phys. Rev. D105 104048(2022)] disappeared in EGB gravity. This implies that this novel phase structure is closely related to gravity theories, and seems to have nothing to do with the effect of quasitopological electromagnetism. In addition, it is also true that the critical exponents calculated near the critical points possess identical values as mean field theory. Finally, we conclude that these findings shall provide some deep insights into the intriguing thermodynamic properties of the dyonic Ad S BHs with quasitopological electromagnetism in EGB gravity.

Inhibiting the phase transition of WO_(3)for highly stable aqueous electrochromic battery

Aqueous electrochromic battery(ECB)has shown intense potential for achieving energy storage and saving simultaneously.While tungsten oxide(WO_(3))is the most promising EC material for commercialization,the cycling stability of WO_(3)-based aqueous ECBs is currently unsatisfactory due to the repeated phase transition during the redox process and the corrosion by acidic electrolytes.Herein,we present a titanium-tungsten oxide alloy(Ti-WO_(3))with controllable morphology and crystal phase synthesized by a facile hot injection method to overcome the challenges.In contrast to conventional monoclinic WO_(3),the Ti-WO_(3)nanorods can stably maintain their cubic crystal phase during the redox reaction in an acidic electrolyte,thus leading to dramatically enhanced response speed and cycling stability,Specifically,when working in a well-matched hybrid Al^(3+)/Zn^(2+)aqueous electrolyte,our phasetransition-free cubic Ti-WO_(3)exhibits an ultra-high cycling stability(>20000 cycles),fast response speed(3,95 s/4,65 s for bleaching/coloring),as well as excellent discharge areal capacity of 214.5 mA h m^(-2),We further fabricate a fully complementa ry aqueous electrochromic device,for the first time,using a Ti-WO_(3)/Prussian blue device architecture.Remarkably,the complementary ECB shows>10000 stable operation cycles,attesting to the feasibility of our Ti-WO_(3)for practical applications.Our work validates the significance of inhibiting the phase transitions of WO_(3)during the electrochromic process for realizing highly cyclable aqueous ECB,which can possibly provide a generalized design guidance for other high-quality metallic oxides for electrochemical applications.

Multi-functional photonic spin Hall effect sensor controlled by phase transition

Photonic spin Hall effect(PSHE), as a novel physical effect in light–matter interaction, provides an effective metrological method for characterizing the tiny variation in refractive index(RI). In this work, we propose a multi-functional PSHE sensor based on VO_(2), a material that can reveal the phase transition behavior. By applying thermal control, the mutual transformation into different phase states of VO_(2) can be realized, which contributes to the flexible switching between multiple RI sensing tasks. When VO_(2) is insulating, the ultrasensitive detection of glucose concentrations in human blood is achieved. When VO_(2) is in a mixed phase, the structure can be designed to distinguish between the normal cells and cancer cells through no-label and real-time monitoring. When VO_(2) is metallic, the proposed PSHE sensor can act as an RI indicator for gas analytes. Compared with other multi-functional sensing devices with the complex structures, our design consists of only one analyte and two VO_(2) layers, which is very simple and elegant. Therefore, the proposed VO_(2)-based PSHE sensor has outstanding advantages such as small size, high sensitivity, no-label, and real-time detection, providing a new approach for investigating tunable multi-functional sensors.

Crystal structure,phase transitions,and thermodynamic properties of magnesium metavanadate(MgV_(2)O_(6))

As a promising anode material for magnesium ion rechargeable batteries,magnesium metavanadate(MgV_(2)O_(6))has attracted considerable research interest in recent years.A MgV_(2)O_(6)sample was synthesized via a facile solid-state reaction by multistep-firing stoichiometric mixtures of MgO and V2O5 powder under an air atmosphere.The solid-state phase transition fromα-MgV_(2)O_(6)toβ-MgV_(2)O_(6)occurred at 841 K and the enthalpy change was 4.37±0.04 kJ/mol.The endothermic effect at 1014 K and the enthalpy change was 26.54±0.26 kJ/mol,which is related to the incongruent melting ofβ-MgV_(2)O_(6).In situ XRD was performed to investigate phase transition of the as-prepared MgV_(2)O_(6)at high temperatures.The cell parameters obtained by Rietveld refinement indicated that it crystallizes in a monoclinic system with the C2/m space group,and the lattice parameters of a=9.280 A°,b=3.501 A°,c=6.731 A°,β=111.76°.The solid-state phase transition fromα-MgV_(2)O_(6)toβ-MgV_(2)O_(6)was further studied by thermal kinetics,indicating that this process is controlled first by a fibril-like mechanism and then by a spherulitic-type mechanism with an increasing heating rate.Additionally,the enthalpy change of MgV_(2)O_(6)at high temperatures was measured utilizing the drop calorimetry,heat capacity was calculated and given as:Cp=208.3+0.03583T-4809000T^(−2)(298-923 K)(J mol^(−1)K^(−1)),the high-temperature heat capacity can be used to calculate Gibbs free energy of MgV_(2)O_(6)at high temperatures.

Ascending phase of solar cycle 25 tilts the current El Nino-Southern oscillation transition

自2020年初夏,赤道太平洋地区出现拉尼娜现象并持续两年半多(以下简称2020拉尼娜),对其未来演变的预测引起了很多关注,考虑到11年太阳周期活动对热带太平洋SST异常可能存在锁相影响,本研究分析了当前太阳活动周(即第25太阳周(SC25))对目前热带太平洋ENSO现象未来演变的调节作用,基于历史太阳周的统计特征,作者对第25太阳周达到其最大值的时间提出三种可能的情景,并讨论了不同情景下的太阳活动对未来两年ENSO演变的可能影响,第25太阳周的持续上升阶段在一定程度上抑制了当前2023厄尔尼诺现象发展为超级事件.

Unexpected Twinning and Phase-Transition of the Indentation Standards, Their Transition Energies, and Scientific Dichotomy

The general use of aluminium as an indentation standard for the iteration of contact heights for the determination of ISO-14577 hardness and elastic modulus is challenged because of as yet not appreciated phase-changes in the physical force-depth standard curve that seemed to be secured by claims from 1992. The physical and mathematical analyses with closed formulas avoid the still world-wide standardized energy-law violation by not reserving 33.33% (h2 belief) (or 20% h3/2 physical law) of the loading force and thus energy for all not depth producing events but using 100% for the depth formation is a severe violation of the energy law. The not depth producing part of the indentation work cannot be done with zero energy! Both twinning and structural phase-transition onsets and normalized phase-transition energies are now calculated without iterations but with physically correct closed arithmetic equations. These are reported for Berkovich and cubecorner indentations, including their comparison on geometric grounds and an indentation standard without mechanical twinning is proposed. Characteristic data are reported. This is the first detection of the indentation twinning of aluminium at room temperature and the mechanical twinning of fused quartz is also new. Their disqualification as indentation standards is established. Also, the again found higher load phase-transitions disqualify aluminium and fused quartz as ISO-ASTM 14577 (International Standardization Organization and American Society for Testing and Materials) standards for the contact depth “hc” iterations. The incorrect and still world-wide used black-box values for H- and Er-values (the latter are still falsely called “Young’s moduli” even though they are not directional) and all mechanical properties that depend on them. They lack relation to bulk moduli from compression experiments. Experimentally obtained and so published force vs depth parabolas always follow the linear FN = kh3/2 + Fa equation, where Fa is the axis-cut before and after the phase-transition branches (never “h2” as falsely enforced and used for H, Er and giving incorrectly calculated parameters). The regression slopes k are the precise physical hardness values, which for the first time allow for precise calculation of the mechanical qualities by indentation in relation to the geometry of the indenter tip. Exactly 20% of the applied force and thus energy is not available for the indentation depth. Only these scientific k-values must be used for AI-advises at the expense of falsely iterated indentation hardness H-values. Any incorrect H-ISO-ASTM and also the iterated Er-ISO-ASTM modulus values of technical materials in artificial intelligence will be a disaster for the daily safety. The AI must be told that these are unscientific and must therefore be replaced by physical data. Iterated data (3 and 8 free parameters!) cannot be transformed into physical data. One has to start with real experimental loading curves and an absolute ZerodurR standard that must be calibrated with standard force and standard length to create absolute indentation results. .

A ten-fold coordinated high-pressure structure in hafnium dihydrogen with increasing superconducting transition temperature induced by enhancive pressure

High pressure is an effective method to induce structural and electronic changes,creating novel high-pressure structures with excellent physical and chemical properties.Herein,we investigate the structural phase transition of hafnium dihydrogen(HfH2)in a pressure range of 0 GPa-500 GPa through the first-principles calculations and the crystal structure analysis by particle swarm optimization(CALYPSO)code.The high-pressure phase transition sequence of HfH2is I4/mmm→Cmma→P-3m1 and the two phase transition pressure points are 220.21 GPa and 359.18 GPa,respectively.A newly trigonal P-3m1 structure with 10-fold coordination first appears as an energy superior structure under high pressure.These three structures are all metallic with the internal ionic bonding of Hf and H atoms.Moreover,the superconducting transition temperature(Tc)values of Cmma at 300 GPa and P-3m1 at 500 GPa are 3.439 K and 19.737 K,respectively.Interestingly,the superconducting transition temperature of the P-3m1 structure presents an upward trend with the pressure rising,which can be attributed to the increase of electron-phonon coupling caused by the enhanced Hf-d electronic density of states at Fermi level under high pressure.

High-pressure investigations on the isostructural phase transition and metallization in realgar with diamond anvil cells

The high-pressure structural,vibrational and electrical properties for realgar were investigated by in-situ Raman scattering and electrical conductivity experiments combined with first-principle calculations up to~30.8 GPa.It was verified that realgar underwent an isostructural phase transition at~6.3 GPa and a metallization at a higher pressure of~23.5 GPa.The isostructural phase transition was well evidenced by the obvious variations of Raman peaks,electrical conductivity,crystal parameters and the As–S bond length.The phase transition of metallization was in closely associated with the closure of bandgap rather than caused by the structural phase transition.And furthermore,the metallic realgar exhibited a relatively low compressibility with the unit cell volume V_(0)=718.1.4Å^(3)and bulk modulus B_(0)=36.1 GPa.

Unveiling the pressure-driven metal–semiconductor–metal transition in the doped TiS_(2)

Conventional theories expect that materials under pressure exhibit expanded valence and conduction bands,leading to increased electrical conductivity.Here,we report the electrical properties of the doped 1T-TiS_(2) under high pressure by electrical resistance investigations,synchrotron x-ray diffraction,Raman scattering and theoretical calculations.Up to 70 GPa,an unusual metal-semiconductor-metal transition occurs.Our first-principles calculations suggest that the observed anti-Wilson transition from metal to semiconductor at 17 GPa is due to the electron localization induced by the intercalated Ti atoms.This electron localization is attributed to the strengthened coupling between the doped Ti atoms and S atoms,and the Anderson localization arising from the disordered intercalation.At pressures exceeding 30.5 GPa,the doped TiS_(2) undergoes a re-metallization transition initiated by a crystal structure phase transition.We assign the most probable space group as P2_(1)2_(1)2_(1).Our findings suggest that materials probably will eventually undergo the Wilson transition when subjected to sufficient pressure.

Pressure-induced phase transition and electronic structure evolution in layered semimetal HfTe_(2)

Motivated by the recent experimental work,the pressure-induced structural transition of well-known two-dimensional(2D)1T-Hf Te_(2)was investigated up to 50 GPa through the advanced CALYPSO structure search technique combined with the first-principles calculations.Our calculations suggested that the 1T-Hf Te_(2)will first transform to C2/m phase at 3.6 GPa with a volume reduction of 7.6%and then to P62m phase at 9.6 GPa with a volume collapse of 4.6%.The occurrences of 3D C2/m and P62m phases mainly originated from the enhanced Te-Te interlayer coupling and the drastic distortions of Hf-Te polyhedrons in P3m1 phase under compression.Concomitantly,the coordination number of Hf atoms increased from six in P3m1 to eight in C2/m and eventually to nine in P62m at elevated pressure.The metallic and semimetallic nature of C2/m and P62m phases were characterized,and the evidence of the reinforced covalent interactions of Te-Hf and Te-Te orbitals in these two novel high-pressure phases were manifested by the atom-projected electronic DOS and Bader charge.

Liquid–liquid phase transition in confined liquid titanium

We report the layering and liquid–liquid phase transition of liquid titanium confined between two parallel panel walls.Abnormal changes in the volume and the potential energy confirm the existence of the liquid–liquid phase transition of the liquid titanium. The typical feature of the liquid–liquid phase transition is layering, which is induced by the slit size,pressure and temperature. We highlight the fact that the slit size and pressure will determine the number of layers. In addition, with the change in the slit size, the density of the confined liquid expresses a fluctuating law. The phase diagram of the layering transition is drawn to clearly understand the layering. This study provides insights into the liquid–liquid phase transition of liquid metal in a confined space.

High-pressure new phases of V–N compounds

The high-pressure diagram of V–N compounds is enriched by proposed seven new stable high-pressure phases.The P-1-VN_4with the armchair N-rich structure may be quenched to ambient conditions.The formed N–N covalent bond plays an important role for the structural stability of N-chain.The charge transfer results in a V–N ionic bond interaction,which further improves the stability of N-chain structure.The P-1-VN_4,P4mnc-VN_8,and Immm-VN_(10)with the outstanding detonation properties have potential application in explosive field.

Topological phase transition in network spreading

This paper investigates information spreading from the perspective of topological phase transition.Firstly,a new hybrid network is constructed based on the small-world networks and scale-free networks.Secondly,the attention mechanism of online users in information spreading is studied from four aspects:social distance,individual influence,content richness,and individual activity,and a dynamic evolution model of connecting with spreading is designed.Eventually,numerical simulations are conducted in three types of networks to verify the validity of the proposed dynamic evolution model.The simulation results show that topological structure and node influence in different networks have undergone phase transition,which is consistent with the phenomenon that followers and individual influence in real social networks experience phase transition within a short period.The infection density of networks with the dynamic evolution rule changes faster and reaches higher values than that of networks without the dynamic evolution rule.Furthermore,the simulation results are compared with the real data,which shows that the infection density curve of the hybrid networks is closer to that of the real data than that of the small-world networks and scale-free networks,verifying the validity of the model proposed in this paper.

Structural phase transition and transport properties in topological material candidate NaZn_(4)As_(3)

We report a comprehensive study on a layered-structure compound of NaZn_(4)As_(3),which has been predicted to be an ideal topological semimetal(TSM) candidate.It is found that NaZn_(4)As_(3) undergoes a structural transformation from high temperature rhombohedral to a low temperature monoclinic phase.The electric resistivity exhibits a metal-to-insulatorlike transition at around 100 K,and then develops a plateau at low temperature,which might be related to the protected topologically conducting surface states.Our first-principles calculation confirms further that NaZn_(4)As_(3) is a topological insulator(TI) for both different phases rather than a previously proposed TSM.The Hall resistivity reveals that the hole carriers dominate the transport properties for the whole temperature range investigated.Furthermore,an obvious kink possibly associated to the structure transition has been detected in thermopower around ~ 170 K.The large thermopower and moderate κ indicate that NaZn_(4)As_(3) and/or its derivatives can provide a good platform for optimizing and studying the thermoelectric performance.

First-order quantum phase transition and entanglement in the Jaynes-Cummings model with a squeezed light

We study the quantum phase transition and entanglement in the Jaynes-Cummings model with squeezed light,utilize a special transformation method to obtain the analytical ground state of the model within the near-resonance regime,and numerically verify the validity of the analytical ground state.It is found that the ground state exhibits a first-order quantum phase transition at the critical point linearly induced by squeezed light,and the ground state entanglement reaches its maximum when the qubit-field coupling strength is large enough at the critical point.