Publication date: 15th May 2025
Solid-solid phase transitions in inorganic materials can lead to significant changes in physical properties. These transitions are induced by changes in external parameters such as temperature and pressure, in which complete restructuring at the atomic level can occur while simultaneously maintaining the same composition. Only a handful of bulk inorganic materials are known to have desirable low temperature solid-solid phase transition behavior. Often nanoscale materials have unusual size-dependent properties, the increased surface-to-volume ratio alters surface energy dynamics, promoting energetic stabilization of metastable nanocrystal phases. Established colloidal synthesis techniques currently yield populations of nanoparticles with precise control over composition, morphology, and surface chemistry. This presentation highlights the utility of leveraging this controlled synthesis and the knowledge of metastable structures towards the discovery of new phase transition behavior. I will highlight the detailed thermal characterization of candidate metastable nanocrystal phases, featuring in-depth synthetic methodology and strategies to develop these structures as low temperature phase change materials.