A multi-institutional Japanese team led by Kenichiro Hashimoto of Tohoku University’s Institute for Materials Research compared the molecular dynamics of glass formation in conventional liquids, such as glucose, to an organic metal material containing ‘frustrated’ electrons.
These electrons, responsible for conducting electrical currents, are unable to reach their lowest energy state due to their geometric arrangement on the material’s crystal lattice.
Slow cooling of conventional glass-forming liquids causes their atoms to organise themselves into regular arrangements, producing a crystallised material. When the researchers slowly cooled the organic metal they were testing, its frustrated electrons similarly organised into a regular pattern and crystallised.
However, when the material was cooled more quickly, crystallisation was avoided and the material’s frustrated electrons re-organised, turning into glass in a manner similar to conventional glass-forming liquids.
The results highlight the universal nature of the liquid-to-glass transition phase. The researchers believe their organic metal provides a convenient test platform for studying the fundamental properties of the liquid-to-glass transition.