Investigation of the evolution of thermal properties in ferrielectric CuInP2S6 and Ag0.1Cu0.9InP2S6 layered crystals by means of ac photopyroelectric calorimetry

Abstract

For CuInP2S6 layered crystal the temperature anomalies of the heat capacity and entropy at the ferrielectric ordering are explained based on the theoretical studies which predict the appearance of a critical endpoint and a bicritical endpoint on the phase diagram. Thus, the splitting of the anomaly of the heat capacity in Ag0.1Cu0.9InP2S6 mixed crystal can be interpreted as a transformation of the ferrielectric first-order phase transition, that is observed for CuInP2S6, into the sequent paraelectric–ferrielectric second-order phase transition and the isostructural first-order transition with a sharp change of the polarization in the ferrielectric phase.