High-tempe
ratu
re investigations of the compound CsH(PO
3H) (o
r CsH
2PO
3, cesiumhyd
rogen phosphite)
revealed that this mate
rial unde
rgoes a t
ransition, with an onset of137
C, to a phase of high p
roton conductivity. The t
ransition is accompanied by a la
rgeheat of t
ransfo
rmation,
rs/Delta.gif" BORDER=0 >
H = 58 ± 2 J/g (12.4 ± 0.4 kJ/mol), and exhibits measu
rablehyste
resis, occu
rring at 96
C upon cooling. High-tempe
ratu
re X-
ray powde
r diff
ractionshowed that the high-tempe
ratu
re phase is cubic, with
ao = 4.896(1) &A
ring;, and likely takes ona CsCl st
ructu
re, with Cs atoms at the co
rne
rs of a simple cubic unit cell, and PO
3H g
roupsat the cente
r. The conductivity in the high-tempe
ratu
re phase at 160
C is 5.5 × 10
-3 rs/Omega.gif" BORDER=0 >
-1cm
-1, and the activation ene
rgy fo
r p
roton t
ranspo
rt is 0.40 ± 0.01 eV. These values suggestthat p
roton t
ranspo
rt is facilitated by
rapid PO
3H g
roup
reo
rientations in the cubic phaseof CsH(PO
3H), as is known to occu
r in the high-tempe
ratu
re, tet
ragonal phase of CsHSO
4.