What is it about?
Thelambda-transition in liquid sulfur has been studied for 160 years, and the widely accepted model is of low temperature liquid that comprises solely of S8 rings that converts to a high temperature polymeric liquid. Here we show that under-coordinated sulfur atoms, in the form of short chains, are also prevalent in sulfur upon melting. Interstitial atoms appear in the so-called “forbidden zone” between the first and second shells, and play a critical role in the chemical bond exchange mechanism that converts S8 rings to polymeric chains.
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Why is it important?
Brimstone was one of the earliest elements used in ancient times because of it’s flammability and reactivity. In modern times liquid sulfur has been studied exhaustively, but found to be extremely challenging to characterize both experimentally and theoretically. Sulfur has more allotropes than any other element including at least 30 solid forms making characterization of the liquid state challenging despite it's fundamental importance.
Perspectives
Our findings and methodology demonstrate the power of high energy synchrotron radiation in observing detailed disordered structure at the atomic level on an absolute scale. The data challenges our current understanding of the structure of sulfur upon melting, which is of wide and long-term scientific interest and interpreting the mechanisms associated with phase transitions in disordered materials.
Chris Benmore
Argonne National Laboratory
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Evidence of short chains in liquid sulfur, The Journal of Chemical Physics, October 2024, American Institute of Physics,
DOI: 10.1063/5.0227014.
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