Negative Area Compressibility
Sat, Jan 31, 2015
In this paper we report the first known example of a material that shows negative area compressibility , that is a material that expands in two perpendicular directions when compressed hydrostatically (i.e. equally in all directions).
This counterintutive property is the result of the layered structure of silver (I) tricyanomethanide, Ag(tcm). Due to the weak forces between the layers it is easy to compress the layers together. This in turn also flattens out the ripples within the layers, causing the crystal to expand in the other two directions.
Negative compressibility materials are interesting because of their potential use in all kinds of applications including pressure sensing and perhaps even artifical muscles.
Paper
Negative area compressibility in silver (I) tricyanomethanide
S A Hodgson, J Adamson, S J Hunt, M J Cliffe, A B Cairns, A L Thompson, M G Tucker, N P Funnell and A L Goodwin
Chem Commun, 50, 5264-5266 (2014).