Superatomic crystals (SACs), assembled from size-complementary molecular clusters, have emerged as an exciting new class of tunable crystalline materials. The structural and functional diversity of the nanoscale building blocks has generated SACs with emergent properties including temperature-triggered ferromagnetism, intercalation-controlled electrical conductivity, and record-low thermal conductivity. Here, I describe efforts to exploit structural phase transitions in various SACs to controllably and reversibly affect functional changes in the materials. I will highlight two SAC systems, [Co6Se8(PEt3)6][C60]2 and [Co6Te8(PEt3)6][C70]2, that feature significant thermal and electronic functional transitions respectively. The ability to incorporate such temperature-controlled transitions into SACs offers a new dimension of functional tunability to an already diverse class of crystalline materials.

Phase transitions in transition metal chalcogenide superatomic crystals

255th National Meeting (2018)

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