A first-order liquid–liquid phase transition in phosphorus

Yoshinori Katayama (), Takeshi Mizutani, Wataru Utsumi, Osamu Shimomura, Masaaki Yamakata and Ken-ichi Funakoshi
Additional contact information
Yoshinori Katayama: Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, 1-1-1 Kouto, Mikazuki, Sayo
Takeshi Mizutani: Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, 1-1-1 Kouto, Mikazuki, Sayo
Wataru Utsumi: Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, 1-1-1 Kouto, Mikazuki, Sayo
Osamu Shimomura: Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, 1-1-1 Kouto, Mikazuki, Sayo
Masaaki Yamakata: Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute, 1-1-1 Kouto, Mikazuki, Sayo
Ken-ichi Funakoshi: Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute, 1-1-1 Kouto, Mikazuki, Sayo

Nature, 2000, vol. 403, issue 6766, 170-173

Abstract: Abstract First-order structural phase transitions are common in crystalline solids, whereas first-order liquid–liquid phase transitions (that is, transitions between two distinct liquid forms with different density and entropy) are exceedingly rare in pure substances1,2,3,4. But recent theoretical and experimental studies have shown evidence for such a transition in several materials, including supercooled water5,6,7,8 and liquid carbon9,10. Here we report an in situ X-ray diffraction observation of a liquid–liquid transition in phosphorus, involving an abrupt, pressure-induced structural change between two distinct liquid forms. In addition to a known form of liquid phosphorus—a molecular liquid comprising tetrahedral P4 molecules—we have found a polymeric form at pressures above 1 GPa. Changing the pressure results in a reversible transformation from the low-pressure molecular form into the high-pressure polymeric form. The transformation is sharp and rapid, occurring within a few minutes over a pressure range of less than 0.02 GPa. During the transformation, the two forms of liquid coexist. These features are strongly suggestive of a first-order liquid–liquid phase transition.

Date: 2000
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/35003143 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:403:y:2000:i:6766:d:10.1038_35003143

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/35003143

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().