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  4. Pressure-freezing of dodecane: exploring the crystal structures, formation kinetics and phase diagrams for colossal barocaloric effects in n-alkanes
 
research article

Pressure-freezing of dodecane: exploring the crystal structures, formation kinetics and phase diagrams for colossal barocaloric effects in n-alkanes

Poreba, Tomasz  
•
Kicior, Inga
November 7, 2023
Rsc Advances

Barocaloric (BC) materials provide cheaper and more energy efficient alternatives to traditional refrigerants. Some liquid alkanes were recently shown to exhibit a colossal BC effect, matching the entropy changes in commercial vapour-liquid refrigerants. Dodecane was predicted to have the largest entropy change among the studied alkanes. Using synchrotron powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and lattice energy calculations, we investigated the BC effects of n-dodecane at high pressures and room temperature. Remarkably, a colossal entropy change |Delta S| of 778 J kg(-1) K-1 at 0.15(3) GPa and 295 K was observed. Spectroscopic studies revealed that this entropy change correlates closely with the conformational transition from mixed gauche to all-trans forms during pressure-induced crystallization. Additionally, the usage of a diamond anvil cell allowed the determination of the crystal structures of in situ crystallized n-un- and dodecane, as well as evaluation of the pressure-dependent crystal growth kinetics. Furthermore, our research suggests that the entropy change (per kilogram) upon compression should be similar for all n-alkanes within the range of 9-18 carbon atoms in the molecule, based on their lattice energies. Even-numbered alkanes are predicted to exhibit superior BC properties compared to their odd-numbered counterparts due to the more symmetric crystal structures and lower propensity to form plastic phases with lower transition entropy.

  • Details
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Type
research article
DOI
10.1039/d3ra06957e
Web of Science ID

WOS:001103689300001

Author(s)
Poreba, Tomasz  
Kicior, Inga
Date Issued

2023-11-07

Publisher

Royal Soc Chemistry

Published in
Rsc Advances
Volume

13

Issue

47

Start page

33305

End page

33317

Subjects

Physical Sciences

•

Solid-Liquid Equilibrium

•

Thermal-Conductivity

•

Intermolecular Potentials

•

Thermodynamic Properties

•

Binary-Mixtures

•

Lower Paraffins

•

Pvt-Data

•

Transitions

•

Undecane

•

Hexadecane

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LQM  
FunderGrant Number

We acknowledge the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) for provision of synchrotron radiation facilities (ID15B and ID27 beamlines). T. P. acknowledges Dr Giorgia Confalonieri and Dr Ola Gjoennes Grendal for their help with PXRD data collection

847439

Partnership for Soft Condensed Matter (PSCM)

Available on Infoscience
February 20, 2024
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/204391
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