Calorimetric versus kinetic glass transitions in viscous monohydroxy alcohols

An extensive comparison of calorimetric and dielectric measurements is carried out for generic molecular liquids and monohydroxy alcohols with focus on the identification of the dielectric modes which are associated with the glass transition. For generic liquids, the calorimetric glass transition temperatures (T g-cal) are always greater than their kinetic counterparts (T g-kin), but the difference remains below 3 K. Also, the nonexponentiality parameters of the Tool-Narayanaswamy-Moynihan-Hodge model applied to the calorimetric data and the stretching exponents of the dielectric measurements show remarkable agreement. The same behavior is found for glass-forming monohydroxy alcohols, provided that the faster and smaller non-Debye relaxation rather than the large dielectric Debye process is assigned to the structural relaxation. The study emphasizes that the dielectric signature of the glass transition in monohydroxy alcohols is a dispersive loss peak that is faster and significantly smaller than the prominent Debye feature.     

Dynamics of glass-forming liquids. IX. Structural versus dielectric relaxation in monohydroxy alcohols

The prominent Debye-type but non-Arrhenius dielectric relaxation is a feature common to many monohydroxy alcohols in their liquid state. Although this exponential process is often considered to reflect the primary structural relaxation, only a faster, smaller, and nonexponential relaxation peak correlates with viscous flow and mechanical relaxation. We provide dielectric relaxation data for 2-methyl-1-butanol, 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, and 3,7-dimethyl-1-octanol across ten decades in time. Based on these and previous results, we show that there exists a variety of dielectric to mechanical relaxation time ratios in the viscous regime, but a universal value of 100 for that ratio appears to evolve in the high temperature limit. The temperature dependence for both the relaxation time and strength of the Debye peak differs from the typical behavior of structural dynamics in terms of the alpha process. The implications of these findings for rationalizing the Debye-type dielectric process of hydrogen-bonded liquids are discussed.     

Diluent effects on the Debye-type dielectric relaxation in viscous monohydroxy alcohols

With the recognition that the Debye-type dielectric relaxation of liquid monohydroxy alcohols does not reflect the structural relaxation dynamics associated with the viscous flow and the glass transition, its behavior upon dilution is expected to differ from that of real alpha-processes. We have investigated the Debye-type dielectric relaxation of binary alcohol/alkane mixtures across the entire concentration range in the supercooled regimes. The focus is on 2-ethyl-1-hexanol in two nonpolar liquids, 3-methylpentane and squalane, which are more fluid and more viscous than the alcohol, respectively. The Debye relaxation is found to occur only for alcohol mole fractions x > 0.2 and is always accompanied by a non-Debye relaxation originating from the alcohol component. Prior to its complete disappearance, the Debye relaxation is subject to broadening. We observe that the Debye dynamics of 2-ethyl-1-hexanol is accelerated in the more fluid 3-methylpentane, while the more viscous squalane leads to longer Debye relaxation times. The present experiments also provide evidence that the breakdown of the Debye relaxation amplitude does not imply the absence of hydrogen-bonded structures.     

Identification of dielectric and structural relaxations in glass-forming secondary amides

Dielectric relaxation dynamics of secondary amides is explored in their supercooled state near the glass transition temperature Tg by investigating N-ethylacetamide and its mixtures with N-methylformamide. All the samples are found to exhibit giant dielectric permittivities, reaching over 500 in N-methylformamide-rich mixtures around Tg. For both the neat and binary systems, the predominant relaxation peak is of the Debye-type throughout the viscous regime, which is an unexpected feature for a glass former with intermediate fragility. The present results combined with the earlier reported high-temperature data reveal that the dielectric strength delta epsilon(D) of the Debye relaxation extrapolates to zero at frequencies of 10(10)-10(11) Hz, which is about two orders of magnitude lower than the phonon frequency limit typical of the structural relaxation. This Debye process is remarkably similar to the dielectric behavior of many monohydroxy alcohols, which implies a common nature of purely exponential relaxation dynamics in these liquids. Based on the dielectric properties, we conclude that the Debye relaxation in the secondary amides is not a direct signature of the primary or alpha-relaxation, the latter being obscured at low temperatures due to the relatively low permittivity and close spectral proximity to the Debye peak. As in the case of monohydroxy alcohols, dielectric polarization and structure fluctuate on different time scales in secondary amides. The Kirkwood-Fr?hlich correlation factors for Debye-type liquids are also discussed.     

Diluting the hydrogen bonds in viscous solutions of n-butanol with n-bromobutane: a dielectric study

Glass-forming monohydroxy alcohols exhibit not only a structural relaxation but also a slower, single-exponential Debye-type relaxation process which already freezes in the liquid phase. By using dielectric spectroscopy, we study how these relaxations evolve when the aprotic alkyl halide n-bromobutane is added to n-butanol, thereby diluting the hydrogen-bond network. The structural relaxation times smoothly vary over the concentration range of this completely miscible binary system. The Debye process remains unaffected by the dilution of the OH groups up to n-bromobutane mole fractions of about 50%. For larger hydroxy dilutions, it turns rather abruptly into a feature which develops significant spectral broadening and it becomes faster. In the dilute limit, the decoupling between the time scale of the Debye process and that of the structural relaxation amounts to almost 6 decades when extrapolated to the glass transition temperature. This relatively large, strongly concentration dependent decoupling is interpreted in analogy to normal modes in polymers. The present results suggest that the structural and the Debye-like responses of monohydroxy alcohols are unrelated.     

Comparing calorimetric and dielectric polarization modes in viscous 2-ethyl-1-hexanol

Dielectric relaxation and dynamic heat capacity measurements are compared for 2-ethyl-1-hexanol near its glass transition temperature Tg in order to further clarify the origin of the prominent Debye-type loss peak observed in many monohydroxy alcohols and other hydrogen-bonding liquids. While the dielectric spectrum epsilon" displays two distinct polarization processes that are separated by a factor of 2000 in terms of the peak frequency, the heat capacity cp" shows only a single peak. The dielectric process with lower amplitude and higher peak frequency coincides with the calorimetric signal, whereas the large dielectric Debye signal is not associated with calorimetric modes. The authors conclude that the Debye process corresponds to a transition among states which differ in energy only in the case of an external electric field.     

Diluting the hydrogen bonds in viscous solutions of n-butanol with n-bromobutane: II. A comparison of rotational and translational motions

Mixtures of the monohydroxy alcohol n-butanol with n-bromobutane are investigated via dielectric and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. Static- and pulsed-field gradient proton NMR yielded self-diffusion coefficients as a function of concentration and temperature. To monitor reorientational motions, broadband dielectric and (13)C-spin relaxation time measurements were carried out. The latter demonstrate that the structural relaxation stems from the motion of the alkyl chains. By combining data from translational diffusion coefficients with published shear viscosities, hydrodynamic radii were determined that compare favorably with the van der Waals radii of single molecules. The results for the neat alcohol and for the binary mixtures are discussed with respect to a recent transient chain model. The approach of Debye and structural relaxation times at high temperatures, identified as a general feature of monohydroxy alcohols, is also discussed within that framework.     

Nuclear magnetic resonance and dielectric noise study of spectral densities and correlation functions in the glass forming monoalcohol 2-ethyl-1-hexanol

The spectral densities related to various relaxation processes of the glass former 2-ethyl-1-hexanol (2E1H), a monohydroxy alcohol, are probed using several nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments as well as via dielectric noise spectroscopy (DNS). On the basis of the spectral density relating to voltage fluctuations, i.e., without the application of external electrical fields, DNS enables the detection of the structural relaxation and of the prominent, about two decades slower Debye process. The NMR-detected spectral density, sensitive to the orientational fluctuations of the hydroxyl deuteron, also reveals dynamics slower than the structural relaxation, but not as slow as the Debye process. Rotational and translational correlation functions of 2E1H are probed using stimulated-echo NMR techniques which could only resolve the structural dynamics or faster processes. The experimental results are discussed with reference to models that were suggested to describe the dynamics in supercooled alcohols.     

Debye type dielectric relaxation and the glass transition of alcohols

Many hydrogen-bonded liquids, especially glass-forming cases, display a dielectric relaxation behavior that differs qualitatively from that of other simple liquids. The majority of models aimed at explaining this unusual dielectric behavior associate the prominent Debye process with structural relaxation, viscous flow, and the glass transition. We perform dielectric and calorimetric studies of glass-forming mixtures of 2-ethylhexylamine and 2-ethyl-1-hexanol across the entire composition range. The kinetic glass transition temperature derived from the large dielectric Debye peak decreases, whereas that of the much smaller and asymmetrically broadened peak increases upon addition of amine. Only the latter feature coincides with the calorimetric glass transition results, implying that molecular structure and dielectric polarization fluctuate on time scales that can differ by orders of magnitude in many hydrogen-bonding liquids.     

Oscillatory shear and high-pressure dielectric study of 5-methyl-3-heptanol

The monohydroxy alcohol 5-methyl-3-heptanol is studied using rheology at ambient pressure and using dielectric spectroscopy at elevated pressures up to 1.03 GPa. Both experimental techniques reveal that the relaxational behavior of this liquid is intermediate between those that show a large Debye process, such as 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, or a small Debye-like feature, such as 4-methyl-3-heptanol, with which comparisons are made. Various phenomenological approaches assigning a time scale for the rheological signature of supramolecular dynamics in monohydroxy alcohols are discussed.     

Glass transition phenomena in two-component plastic crystals: study of hexasubstituted benzenes

We have critically examined the relaxation that is known to occur in the crystalline phase of pentachloronitrobenzene (PCNB) and 2,3,4,5,6-pentabromotoluene using dielectric spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Within the resolution of our experimental setup, a relaxation process similar to that of the primary (or alpha-) relaxation is found. A slight deviation from Arrhenius behavior is noticed only in the vicinity of the glass transition temperature (T(g)). This deviation and a small steplike change found in the DSC scans at T(g) indicates that the "fragility" of these plastic crystals is rather low. However, in PCNB, the dielectric strength (Deltaepsilon) of the above said alpha-process did not change appreciably with temperature, and, interestingly, a small addition of an impurity such as pentachlorobenzene (PCB) to the molten state of PCNB drastically lowered the dielectric strength and the calorimetric signature of glass transition phenomena in the DSC data at T(g). The room-temperature powder X-ray diffraction measurements in combination with the DSC data in the melting temperature region did not indicate any observable change in the crystalline structure. A residual alpha-process with no significant change in the shape of the dielectric spectrum indicates that the hindrance to the rotational motion of PCNB molecules is caused by the presence of a small number of PCB molecules in the crystalline lattice of PCNB over a certain region. Outside of this region, the original PCNB disordered phase is preserved, which is the origin of the residual alpha-process. With a further increase in PCB concentration, the alpha-process, characteristic of pure PCNB, vanishes, and instead another relaxation develops. This process is explained with the help of a solid-liquid phase diagram of the alpha-process of the plastic phase of 2:1 and 1:2 compound formations, which are stable below 386 +/- 1 and 366 +/- 1 K, respectively.     

Dielectric Relaxation and Thermodynamic Studies of Binary Mixtures of 2-Nitrotoluene with Primary and Secondary Alcohols at Different Temperatures

The dielectric complex spectra of 2-nitrotoluene with primary or secondary alcohol binary mixtures were studied over the frequency range of 10 MHz to 20 GHz for the whole solute mole fraction range at four different temperatures. An unusual suppression phenomenon was observed in the real and imaginary parts of the mixture complex spectrum, which are smaller than those for the pure alcohols, at low solute concentrations. The dielectric constant and dielectric relaxation time values were obtained by fitting the complex dielectric spectrum data to the single Debye model using a non-linear least squares method. The dielectric constant of mixtures decrease with the increasing mole fraction of 2NT in both the primary alcohols and secondary alcohols; the dielectric relaxation time decreases for all the five binary systems. Using the dielectric data, derived dielectric parameters, namely: the excess dielectric constant, excess inverse relaxation time, effective Kirkwood correlation factor, molar activation enthalpy and molar activation entropy, were calculated. The non-linear variation of permittivity (?₀) reveals the change in size and shape of hetero-molecular complex due to intermolecular H-bond interaction. The negative variation of the excess permittivity constant confirms that the dipoles form multimer structures with anti-parallel ordering of unlike dipoles. The molar activation enthalpy was found to be higher at 0.2 mol fraction of 2NT for primary alcohol binary system. To confirm the molecular function group interaction, a FT-IR spectroscopy study was carried out at 298 K. The FT-IR analysis confirmed the formation of hydrogen bonds between the hydrogen atom of hydroxyl groups of the alcohols and the oxygen atom of nitro groups of 2NT in the binary mixtures.     

Molecular motions in amorphous ibuprofen as studied by broadband dielectric spectroscopy

The molecular mobility of amorphous ibuprofen has been investigated by broadband dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS) covering a temperature range of more than 200 K. Four different relaxation processes, labeled as alpha, beta, gamma, and D, were detected and characterized, and a complete relaxation map was given for the first time. The gamma-process has activation energy E a = 31 kJ.mol (-1), typical for local mobility. The weak beta-relaxation, observed in the glassy state as well as in the supercooled state was identified as the genuine Johari-Goldstein process. The temperature dependence of the relaxation time of the alpha-process (dynamic glass transition) does not obey a single VFTH law. Instead two VFTH regimes are observed separated by a crossover temperature, T B = 265 K. From the low temperature VFTH regime, a T g (diel) (tau =100 s) = 226 K was estimated, and a fragility or steepness index m = 93, was calculated showing that ibuprofen is a fragile glass former. The D-process has a Debye-like relaxation function but the temperature dependence of relaxation time also follows the VFTH behavior, with a Vogel temperature and a pre-exponential factor which seem to indicate that its dynamics is governed by the alpha-process. It has similar features as the Debye-type process observed in a variety of associating liquids, related to hydrogen bonding dynamics. The strong tendency of ibuprofen to form hydrogen bonded aggregates such as dimers and trimers either cyclic or linear which seems to control in particular the molecular mobility of ibuprofen was confirmed by IR spectroscopy, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, and MD simulations.     

Relaxation dynamics of orientationally disordered plastic crystals: effect of dopants

We have examined the relaxation that occurs in the supercooled plastic crystalline phases of pentachloronitrobenzene (PCNB), dichlorotetramethylbenzene (DCTMB), trichlorotrimethylbenzene (TCTMB) along with some of their deuterated samples, and 1-cyanoadamantane (CNADM) in the presence of intentionally added dopants. The experimental techniques used in the present study are dielectric spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Only one relaxation process similar to that of the primary (or alpha-) relaxation characteristic of glass-forming materials is found, but there is no indication of any observable secondary relaxation within the resolution of our experimental setup. The alpha-process can reasonably be described by a Havriliak-Negami (HN) shape function throughout the frequency range. However, in the case of PCNB the dielectric strength (Delta epsilon) of the above said alpha-process does not change appreciably with temperature, though interestingly, a small addition of a dopant such as pentachlorobenzene (PCB), trichlorobenzene (TCB), and chloroadamantane (CLADM) to the molten state of PCNB drastically lowers the dielectric strength by a factor of 4 to 8. Powder X-ray diffraction measurements at room temperature and DSC data do not indicate any appreciable change in the crystalline structure. It is noticed that the effect of PCB as a dopant on the magnitude of alpha-process of CNADM is moderate, whereas both PCB and TCB as dopants show a much reduced effect on the relaxation in DCTMB and TCTMB. It is suggested that the drastic changes in the dielectric strength of the alpha-process is due to the rotational hindrance caused by the presence of a small number of dopant molecules in the host crystalline lattice. In the above context, the possibility of a certain degree of antiparallel ordering of dipoles is also discussed.     

Vibrational spectroscopy and dynamics of azide ion in ionic liquid and dimethyl sulfoxide water mixtures

Steady-state and time-resolved infrared spectroscopy of the azide (N(3)-) anion has been used to characterize aqueous mixtures both with the ionic liquid (IL) 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMIM][BF(4)]) and with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). In the DMSO-water mixtures, two anion vibrational bands are observed for low water mole fractions (0 > X(w) > 0.25), which indicates a heterogeneous ion solvation environment. The band at 2000 cm(-1) observed for neat DMSO does not shift but decreases in amplitude as the amount of water is increased. Another band appears at slightly higher frequency at low X(w) (=0.05). As the amount of water is increased, this band shifts to higher frequency and becomes stronger and is attributed to azide with an increasing degree of hydration. At intermediate and high X(w), a single band is observed that shifts almost linearly with water mole fraction toward the bulk water value. The heterogeneity is evident from the infrared pump-probe studies in which the decay times depend on probe frequency at low mole fraction. For the azide spectra in IL-water mixtures, a single azide band is observed for each mole fraction mixture. The azide band shifts almost linearly with mole fraction, indicating nearly ideal mixing behavior. As with the DMSO-water mixtures, the time-resolved IR decay times are probe-frequency-dependent at low mole fraction, again indicating heterogeneous solvation. In both the DMSO and IL mixtures with water, the relaxation times are slower than would be expected from ideal mixing, suggesting that vibrational relaxation of azide is more sensitive than its vibrational frequency to the solvent structure. The results are discussed in terms of preferential solvation and the degree to which the azide shift and vibrational relaxation depend on the degree of water association in the mixtures.     

Structure-dependent dc conductivity and relaxation time in the Debye-Stokes-Einstein equation

The basis for a modification of the Debye-Stokes-Einstein (DSE) equation between the dc conductivity, sigma(dc), and dielectric relaxation time, tau, has been examined by using broad-band dielectric spectroscopy of LiClO4 solutions in 5-methyl-2-hexanol and 1-propanol and of pure liquids. According to the DSE equation, the log sigma(dc)-log tau plots should have a slope of -1. We find that sigma(dc) begins to depend upon the structure of an electrolytic solution when a variation of solvent's equilibrium dielectric permittivity, epsilon(s), with temperature causes the ion population to vary. As a consequence of this intrinsic dependence, the log sigma(dc)-log tau plots do not obey the DSE equation. Inclusion of the effect of change in epsilon(s) on the DSE equation may be useful in analyzing the measured quantities in terms of Brownian diffusion of both ions and molecules in ultraviscous liquids. Proton translocation along a hydrogen bond contributes little to sigma(dc), which appears to be predominantly determined by the ion population in the two alcohols and the solutions. The effect is briefly discussed in the potential energy landscape paradigm of structure fluctuations, and it is suggested that the high-frequency shear modulus measurements of ionic solutions would help reveal the temperature-dependent deviation from the DSE equation.     

Dynamics of glass-forming liquids. XI. Fluctuating environments by dielectric spectroscopy

The dielectric relaxation of a 1 wt % mixture of di-n-butylether in 3-methylpentane has been measured across a range of eight decades, in which the characteristic relaxation time varies from 5 s to 50 ns. Each loss spectrum is a superposition of the dispersive solvent peak and a Debye peak which is one decade slower and readily assigned to the larger and more dipolar solute molecules. Fluctuating environments or rate exchange is made responsible for the Debye nature of probe rotation, implying that the environmental relaxation times fluctuate on time scales which are faster than the rotational correlation decay of the probe molecule. Within the experimental range from 2.2 s to 42 ns regarding the mean alpha-relaxation time, the results are consistent with the exchange time matching the upper limit of structural relaxation times or two to three times their average value. As T(g) is approached, no indication for a variation in exchange behavior or for slower environmental fluctuations is found.     

Dynamics of glass-forming liquids. X. Dielectric relaxation of 3-bromopentane as molecular probes in 3-methylpentane

The glass-forming liquids 3-bromopentane (3BP) and 3-methylpentane (3MP) are readily miscible across the entire composition range, although their polarities differ considerably. As noted by Berberian [J. Non-Cryst. Solids 131-133, 48 (1991)], the nearly matching molar volumes makes this binary system appear ideal for probe-sensitized measurements. We have performed a dielectric study of these mixtures in the range of 3BP mole fractions x from 2 x 10(-4) to 0.75. In the limit of low concentrations, x<0.5%, the dielectric loss peak of 3BP is slower by a factor of 2.5 relative to that of 3MP. Additionally, the relaxation behavior of the guest is more exponential than that of the host liquid. We interpret the distinct dynamics of the guest as a result of temporal averaging over the heterogeneous host dynamics, with the exchange time being near the longest structural time constant of the system.