Kim, Gunwoo and Griffin, John M. and Blanc, Frederic and Halat, David M. and Haile, Sossina M. and Grey, Clare P. (2017) Revealing Local Dynamics of the Protonic Conductor CsH(PO3H) by Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy and First-Principles Calculations. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 121 (50). pp. 27830-27838. ISSN 1932-7447
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Abstract
A joint study incorporating multinuclear solid-state NMR spectroscopy and first-principles calculations has been performed to investigate the local structure and dynamics of the protonic conductor CsH(PO3H) in the paraelectric phase. The existence of the superprotonic phase (> 137 degrees C) is clearly confirmed by NMR, in good agreement with the literature. The variable-temperature H-1, H-2, and P-31 NMR data further reveal a distribution of motional correlation times, with isotropic rotation of the phosphite ion being observed below the superprotonic phase transition for a small but gradually increasing subset of anions. This isotropic rotation is associated with fast local protonic motion, with the distribution of correlation times being tentatively assigned to internal defects or surface adsorbed H2O. The phosphite ion dynamics of the majority slower subset of phosphite ions is quantified through analysis of variable-temperature O-17 spectra recorded from 34 to 150 degrees C, by considering a model for the pseudo C-3 rotation of the phosphite ion around the P-H bond axis below the phase transformation. An extracted activation energy of 0.24 +/- 0.08 eV (23 +/- 8 kJ mol(-1)) for this model was obtained, much lower than that reported from proton conductivity measurements, implying that no strong correlation exists between long-range protonic motion and C-3 rotations of the phosphite. We conclude that proton conduction in CsH(PO3H) in the paraelectric phase is governed by the activation energy for exchange between donor and acceptor oxygen sites, rotation of the phosphite units, and the lack of isotropic rotation of the phosphite ion. Surprisingly, coalescence of O-17 NMR resonances, as would be expected for rapid isotropic reorientations of all phosphite groups, is not observed above the transition. Potential reasons for this are discussed.