Heat capacities, third-law entropies and thermodynamic functions of the negative thermal expansion material Zn 2GeO 4 from T=(0 to 400) K

Abstract

The molar heat capacity of Zn 2GeO 4, a material which exhibits negative thermal expansion below ambient temperatures, has been measured in the temperature range 0.5⩽( T/K)⩽400. At T=298.15 K, the standard molar heat capacity is (131.86 ± 0.26) J · K −1 · mol −1. Thermodynamic functions have been generated from smoothed fits of the experimental results. The standard molar entropy at T=298.15 K is (145.12 ± 0.29) J · K −1 · mol −1. The existence of low-energy modes is supported by the excess heat capacity in Zn 2GeO 4 compared to the sums of the constituent binary oxides.