More room for microphase separation: An extended study on binary liquids confined in SBA-15 cylindrical pores

Extension and Limits of Cryoscopy for Nanoconfined Solutions

This work investigates the phase behavior of aqueous solutions of glycerol confined in MCM-41 and SBA-15 nanoporous matrixes by calorimetry. Limitations due to overfilling and eutectic freezing are prevented by the absence of an external liquid reservoir and by the glass-forming property of glycerol. Consequently, the stability of nanoconfined ice in equilibrium with aqueous solutions is studied over a wide range of compositions. In confinement, a large temperature depression of the liquidus line is observed. A thermodynamic model accounting simultaneously for the cryoscopic and the Gibbs-Thomson effects gives a consistent view of the phase diagram for large pores (R_p = 4.15 nm). For smaller pores (R_p = 1.8 nm), it reveals that the water activity strongly deviates from the bulk solution with the same composition, indicating the possible role of concentration heterogeneities in determining the onset of ice freezing in strongly nanoconfined solutions.

Nanometer Confinement-Driven Promotion and Stabilization of a Hexatic Phase Intervening between Ordered Rotator Phases

Bulk phase binary mixture of two rotator phase forming alkanes, n-tricosane (C₂₃H₄₈) and n-octacosane (C₂₈H₅₈), has been previously studied. C₂₃H₄₈ exists in the R_II and R_I phases, whereas C₂₈H₅₈ exists in the R_III and R_IV phases. Over a certain range of composition, this binary mixture was found to exist in R_II, R_I and an intervening mesophase was reported to be the hexatic phase, wherein the long-range two-dimensional in-plane hexagonal lattice order of the R_II is lost and what remains is molecules present in hexagonal geometry without long-range positional correlation between individual hexagons. Upon confinement in cylindrical anodized alumina pores 200 nm wide, on the one hand, the temperature range of the hexatic phase was found to extend, and on the other hand, it underwent increased molecular ordering compared to the hexatic phase in bulk, exhibiting two counter-reacting behaviors in confinement. We provide here a temperature-dependent X-ray diffraction study and a theoretical approach combining the Landau and Flory-Huggins theories to, first, understand the underlying mechanism leading to emergence of the hexatic phase and then to explain the effect of confinement on it in the light of finite size and interfacial interaction between the alkanes and alumina pores.

Confinement-driven radical change in a sequence of rotator phases: a study on n-octacosane

Rotator-phase forming n-alkanes have been studied extensively in both their bulk state and in nanoconfinement. While some alkanes maintain their bulk-state rotator phases in nanoconfinement albeit with increased disorder, there are others exhibiting new rotator phases upon confinement. We present here a temperature dependent X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) study on n-octacosane (C₂₈H₅₈), which almost completely loses its bulk state R_IV phase and undergoes complete disappearance of its R_III phase. In their place, when confined in cylindrical anodized alumina nanopores, a phase highly resembling the hexatic mesophase is formed at a higher temperature and the R_I rotator phase at a lower temperature. The effects of finite size, interfacial interactions with the host matrix and alkyl chain flexibility are used to provide an explanation for such unexpected behaviour.

Supramolecular Organization in Confined Nanospaces

Empty spaces are abhorred by nature, which immediately rushes in to fill the void. Humans have learnt pretty well how to make ordered empty nanocontainers, and to get useful products out of them. When such an order is imparted to molecules, new properties may appear, often yielding advanced applications. This review illustrates how the organized void space inherently present in various materials: zeolites, clathrates, mesoporous silica/organosilica, and metal organic frameworks (MOF), for example, can be exploited to create confined, organized, and self-assembled supramolecular structures of low dimensionality. Features of the confining matrices relevant to organization are presented with special focus on molecular-level aspects. Selected examples of confined supramolecular assemblies - from small molecules to quantum dots or luminescent species - are aimed to show the complexity and potential of this approach. Natural confinement (minerals) and hyperconfinement (high pressure) provide further opportunities to understand and master the atomistic-level interactions governing supramolecular organization under nanospace restrictions.

Phase separation of triethylamine and water in native and organically modified silica nanopores

A mixture of triethylamine and water is a lower critical solution temperature system that demixes (separates into individual phases) on heating. Differential scanning calorimetry has been applied to study the process of demixing in native and organically modified silica nanopores whose size varied from 4 to 30 nm. It has been found that in both types of nanopores, the temperature and enthalpy of demixing decrease significantly with decreasing the pore size. Isoconversional kinetic analysis has been utilized to determine the activation energy and pre-exponential factor of the process. It has been demonstrated that the depression of the transition temperature upon nanoconfinement is associated with acceleration of the process due to lowering of the activation energy. Nanoconfinement has also been found to lower the pre-exponential factor of the process that has been linked to a decrease in the molecular mobility.