Fragility and molecular mobility in micro- and nano-layered PC/PMMA films

Nature of dynamic gradients, glass formation, and collective effects in ultrathin freestanding films

Molecular, polymeric, colloidal, and other classes of liquids can exhibit very large, spatially heterogeneous alterations of their dynamics and glass transition temperature when confined to nanoscale domains. Considerable progress has been made in understanding the related problem of near-interface relaxation and diffusion in thick films. However, the origin of "nanoconfinement effects" on the glassy dynamics of thin films, where gradients from different interfaces interact and genuine collective finite size effects may emerge, remains a longstanding open question. Here, we combine molecular dynamics simulations, probing 5 decades of relaxation, and the Elastically Cooperative Nonlinear Langevin Equation (ECNLE) theory, addressing 14 decades in timescale, to establish a microscopic and mechanistic understanding of the key features of altered dynamics in freestanding films spanning the full range from ultrathin to thick films. Simulations and theory are in qualitative and near-quantitative agreement without use of any adjustable parameters. For films of intermediate thickness, the dynamical behavior is well predicted to leading order using a simple linear superposition of thick-film exponential barrier gradients, including a remarkable suppression and flattening of various dynamical gradients in thin films. However, in sufficiently thin films the superposition approximation breaks down due to the emergence of genuine finite size confinement effects. ECNLE theory extended to treat thin films captures the phenomenology found in simulation, without invocation of any critical-like phenomena, on the basis of interface-nucleated gradients of local caging constraints, combined with interfacial and finite size-induced alterations of the collective elastic component of the structural relaxation process.

Progress towards a phenomenological picture and theoretical understanding of glassy dynamics and vitrification near interfaces and under nanoconfinement

The nature of alterations to dynamics and vitrification in the nanoscale vicinity of interfaces-commonly referred to as "nanoconfinement" effects on the glass transition-has been an open question for a quarter century. We first analyze experimental and simulation results over the last decade to construct an overall phenomenological picture. Key features include the following: after a metrology- and chemistry-dependent onset, near-interface relaxation times obey a fractional power law decoupling relation with bulk relaxation; relaxation times vary in a double-exponential manner with distance from the interface, with an intrinsic dynamical length scale appearing to saturate at low temperatures; the activation barrier and vitrification temperature T_g approach bulk behavior in a spatially exponential manner; and all these behaviors depend quantitatively on the nature of the interface. We demonstrate that the thickness dependence of film-averaged T_g for individual systems provides a poor basis for discrimination between different theories, and thus we assess their merits based on the above dynamical gradient properties. Entropy-based theories appear to exhibit significant inconsistencies with the phenomenology. Diverse free-volume-motivated theories vary in their agreement with observations, with approaches invoking cooperative motion exhibiting the most promise. The elastically cooperative nonlinear Langevin equation theory appears to capture the largest portion of the phenomenology, although important aspects remain to be addressed. A full theoretical understanding requires improved confrontation with simulations and experiments that probe spatially heterogeneous dynamics within the accessible 1-ps to 1-year time window, minimal use of adjustable parameters, and recognition of the rich quantitative dependence on chemistry and interface.

Molecular Relaxations in Supercooled Liquid and Glassy States of Amorphous Quinidine: Dielectric Spectroscopy and Density Functional Theory Approaches

In this article, we conduct a comprehensive molecular relaxation study of amorphous Quinidine above and below the glass-transition temperature (Tg) through broadband dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (BDS) experiments and theoretical density functional theory (DFT) calculations, as one major issue with the amorphous state of pharmaceuticals is life expectancy. These techniques enabled us to determine what kind of molecular motions are responsible, or not, for the devitrification of Quinidine. Parameters describing the complex molecular dynamics of amorphous Quinidine, such as Tg, the width of the α relaxation (βKWW), the temperature dependence of α-relaxation times (τα), the fragility index (m), and the apparent activation energy of secondary γ relaxation (Ea-γ), were characterized. Above Tg (> 60 °C), a medium degree of nonexponentiality (βKWW = 0.5) was evidenced. An intermediate value of the fragility index (m = 86) enabled us to consider Quinidine as a glass former of medium fragility. Below Tg (< 60 °C), one well-defined secondary γ relaxation, with an apparent activation energy of Ea-γ = 53.8 kJ/mol, was reported. From theoretical DFT calculations, we identified the most reactive part of Quinidine moieties through exploration of the potential energy surface. We evidenced that the clearly visible γ process has an intramolecular origin coming from the rotation of the CH(OH)C9H14N end group. An excess wing observed in amorphous Quinidine was found to be an unresolved Johari-Goldstein relaxation. These studies were supplemented by sub-Tg experimental evaluations of the life expectancy of amorphous Quinidine by X-ray powder diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry. We show that the difference between Tg and the onset temperature for crystallization, Tc, which is 30 K, is sufficiently large to avoid recrystallization of amorphous Quinidine during 16 months of storage under ambient conditions.

From monomers to self-assembled monolayers: the evolution of molecular mobility with structural confinements

The effect of structural constriction on molecular mobility is investigated by broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) within three types of molecular arrangements: monomers, oligomers and self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). While disordered monomers exhibit a variety of cooperative and local relaxation processes, the constrained nanodomains of oligomers and highly ordered structure of monolayers exhibit much hindered local molecular fluctuations. Particularly, in SAMs, motions of the silane headgroups are totally prevented whereas the polar endgroups forming the monolayer canopy show only one cooperative relaxation process. This latter molecular fluctuation is, for the first time, observed independently from other overlapping dielectric signals. Numerous electrostatic interactions among those dipolar endgroups are responsible for the strong cooperativity and heterogeneity of the canopy relaxation process. Our data analyses also revealed that the bulkiness of dipolar endgroups can disrupt the organization of the monolayer canopy thus increasing their ability to fluctuate as temperature is increased.

Combined Dependence of Nanoconfined Tg on Interfacial Energy and Softness of Confinement

We employ molecular dynamics simulations of nanolayered polymers to systematically quantify the dependence of T_g nanoconfinement effects on interfacial energy and the "softness" of confinement. Results indicate that nanoconfined T_g depends linearly on interfacial adhesion energy, with a slope that scales exponentially with the ratio of the bulk Debye-Waller factors ⟨u²⟩ of the confined and confining materials. These trends, together with a convergence at low interfacial adhesion energy to the T_g of an equivalent freestanding film, are captured in a single functional form, with only three parameters explicitly referring to the confined state. The observed dependence on ⟨u²⟩ indicates that softness of nanoconfinement should be defined in terms of the relative high frequency shear moduli, rather than low frequency moduli or relaxation times, of the confined and confining materials.

Characteristic Length of the Glass Transition in Isochorically Confined Polymer Glasses

We report the effect of isochoric confinement on the characteristic length of the glass transition (ξ_α) for polystyrene (PS) and poly(4-methylstyrene) (P4MS). Utilizing silica-capped PS and P4MS nanoparticles as model systems, ξ_α values are determined from the thermal fluctuation model and calorimetric data. With decreasing nanoparticle diameter, ξ_α decreases, suggesting a reduction in the number of segmental units required for cooperative motion at the glass transition under confinement. Furthermore, a direct correlation is observed between ξ_α and the isochoric fragility (m_v) in confined polymers. Due to a nearly constant ratio of the isochoric to isobaric fragility in confined polymer nanoparticles, a correlation between ξ_α and m_v also implies a correlation between ξ_α and the volume contribution to the temperature dependence of structural relaxation. Lastly, we observe that when the fragility and characteristic length are varied in the same system the relationship between the two properties appears to be more correlated than that of across different bulk glass-formers.