Making the most of metastability

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 377; no. 6608; pp. 814 - 815
• Main Authors: Mao, Wendy L., Lin, Yu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington The American Association for the Advancement of Science 19.08.2022
• Subjects: Energy; Extreme environments; High pressure; Kinetic energy; Material properties; Metastable state; Nanocrystals; Phases
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.add5433

Researchers seek to preserve materials that are formed at high pressure Extreme environments are useful for studying previously uncharacterized phases and properties of materials ( 1 ). Researchers may discover materials with desirable features, which would be especially attractive if they can be retained under ambient conditions. Although the thermodynamically stable state of a material is generally determined by its lowest energy configuration, there is also the possibility of a metastable state at local energy minima—a “valley” on a curve that is not the overall lowest point. A local energy minimum allows phases to exist outside their stability field for an extended period of time, making metastability a rich subject for exploring material properties. On page 870 of this issue, Xiao et al. ( 2 ) report using nanocrystals to explore the processes that influence the height of the kinetic energy barrier between different structures to preserve, at ambient conditions, phases that occur at high pressure.