Ferroelectricity of pyridinium perchlorate, a molecular level point of view

The behavior of ferroelectric and thermodynamic parameters of pyridinium perchlorate (PyClO(4)) was simulated based on experimental NMR data and properties of the individual constituting ions. Dynamic (2)H NMR spectroscopy was used to investigate the order-disorder character of ferroelectricity in PyClO(4). Quadrupole echo and inversion recovery experiments were performed in the range from 140 to 300 K. The spectra can be simulated by a rotational jump motion of the pyridinium cations about their pseudo-C(6) axis. This confirms that the ferroelectricity of this compound below a first-order phase transition at 248 K is primarily due to the ordering of cations along a ferroelectric axis. In an intermediate phase between 248 and 233 K, the cation-anion sublattice displacement mechanism also gives a small positive contribution to ferroelectricity. In the family of the ferroelectric pyridinium salts, the paraelectric-ferroelectric phase transition temperature increases with the size and polarizability of the constituting anions, suggesting that the main interaction for ferroelectric ordering occurs via an indirect superexchange mechanism, whereas in compounds with small anions of low polarizability the direct dipole-dipole interaction dominates and leads to antiferroelectric order.     

Brittle to Quasi-Brittle Transition

Abstract. The present study focuses on the kinetic and non-deterministic aspects of the brittle to quasi-brittle transition. A solid is approximated by a lattice formed by the interacting continuum particles and the evolution of damage is estimated using particle dynamics. The onset of transition is measured by the rate of the change of correlation length. The proposed method is illustrated on the examples of creep rupture, strain localization and dynamic expansion of a circular void in a brittle plate.Sommario. Viene posta l'attenzione sugli aspetti cinetici e non deterministici della transizione dal comportamento fragile a quello quasi-fragile. Un solido viene approssimato da un reticolo formato da particelle interagenti e l'evoluzione del danno viene stimata tramite la dinamica delle particelle. L'inizio della transizione viene misurato tramite la variazione della lunghezza di correlazione. Il metodo proposto viene illustrato su esempi di rottura per creep, localizzazione della deformazione e l'espansione di un foro circolare in una piastra fragile.     

Using spin polarised positive muons for studying guest molecule partitioning in soft matter structures

Fully polarised positive muons substituted for protons in organic free radicals can be used as spin labels which reveal information about the structure, dynamics and environment of these radicals. In applications via the technique of avoided-level-crossing muon spin resonance (ALC-microSR), the positive muon has been used to study the partitioning of phenyl alcohols in lamellar phase colloidal dispersions of a cationic dichain surfactant. Here we describe the experimental technique which permits highly sensitive spectroscopy as previously demonstrated for surfactant mixtures. We also demonstrate its capability in the study of partitioning of cosurfactant molecules in surfactant bilayers in order to elucidate the main factors which contribute to cosurfactant ordering at interfaces. The technique takes advantage of the positive muon combining with an electron to a hydrogen-like atom that is called muonium. This atom attaches to a phenyl group, forming a cyclohexadienyl-type radical that contains the muon as a polarised spin label, providing an excellent probe even for very low phenyl alcohol concentrations. The position of one type of resonance, which on the basis of spectroscopic selection rules is denoted as Delta(0), is related to the solvent polarity of the radicals' environment. The results derived from Delta(0) measurements reveal a systematic trend where the increasing chain length of the phenyl alcohol results in a deeper immersion of the phenyl ring of the alcohol into the surfactant bilayer with the OH group anchored at the interface. In addition, the data suggest partial penetration of water molecules into the bilayer. Furthermore, data ensuing from a second resonance (called Delta(1), which is dependent upon the degree of confinement of the radical within the surfactant aggregate structure) indicates not only that the phenyl alcohol resides in an anisotropic environment, (i.e. that the host molecule is unable to undergo full 3-D reorientation on a timescale of 50 ns), but the resonance line widths indicate that the radicals are undergoing fast rotation about a particular axis, in this instance about the first C-C substituent bond at the phenyl ring. Detailed analysis of these Delta(1) line shapes suggests that other types of motion involving reorientation of the above rotation axis are also present. At room temperature, the hydrocarbon chains of the double layers form an aggregate state commonly referred to as the L(beta) phase, where the motions of surfactant alkyl chains are effectively frozen out. These chains melt on heating over a temperature range which is solution composition dependent (ca. 51 to 67 degrees C), but in all cases leading to a liquid-like disordered hydrocarbon regime whilst retaining the overall lamellar structure (and in this state is termed L(alpha)). Above the L(alpha)/L(beta) chain ordering phase transition the tracer molecules reside within the bilayer, but below this transition (and depending on their water-oil solubility) they are completely or partly expelled. This interpretation is further supported by Heisenberg spin exchange experiments. The water-bilayer partitioning reflects both typical classical and nonclassical hydrophobic solvation depending on temperature and chain length of phenyl alcohols.