Molecular heterogeneities in the thermal expansivity of polyalcohols

Local and global expansivity in water

The supra-molecular structure of a liquid is strongly connected to its dynamics, which in turn control macroscopic properties such as viscosity. Consequently, detailed knowledge about how this structure changes with temperature is essential to understand the thermal evolution of the dynamics ranging from the liquid to the glass. Here, we combine infrared spectroscopy (IR) measurements of the hydrogen (H) bond stretching vibration of water with molecular dynamics simulations and employ a quantitative analysis to extract the inter-molecular H-bond length in a wide temperature range of the liquid. The extracted expansivity of this H-bond differs strongly from that of the average nearest neighbor distance of oxygen atoms obtained through a common conversion of mass density. However, both properties can be connected through a simple model based on a random loose packing of spheres with a variable coordination number, which demonstrates the relevance of supra-molecular arrangement. Furthermore, the exclusion of the expansivity of the inter-molecular H-bonds reveals that the most compact molecular arrangement is formed in the range of ∼316-331K (i.e., above the density maximum) close to the temperature of several pressure-related anomalies, which indicates a characteristic point in the supra-molecular arrangement. These results confirm our earlier approach to deduce inter-molecular H-bond lengths via IR in polyalcohols [Gabriel et al. J. Chem. Phys. 154, 024503 (2021)] quantitatively and open a new alley to investigate the role of inter-molecular expansion as a precursor of molecular fluctuations on a bond-specific level.

Thermodynamic characteristics of the aliphatic polyamide crystal structures: Enhancement of nylon 66α, 610α and 77γ polymers

Despite the polymer industry's reliance on nylon polymers, numerous questions remain about their crystal structures, modeling, and other features. This work discusses the thermodynamic properties and molecular modeling of a polyamides nylon 66α, 610α, and 77γ crystal structure systems for use in various electronics and Nano-devices that feature distinct properties such as exceptional optoelectronic properties at a low cost compared to other structures. This study looked at the crystal structure of a linear polyamide chain made up of repeating units. The influence of the thermal expansion coefficient and thermodynamic parameters on crystal structures' characteristics at different temperatures has previously been explored. The findings of this study demonstrate, on the one hand, the influence of the amorphous phase on the final thermodynamic characteristics of semi-crystalline polymers and, on the other hand, pave the way for greater improvement in the durability of these polymers by increasing their crystalline features. The values of the thermodynamic parameters for nylon 66α, 610α and 77γ such as enthalpy (ΔHExp.) were 35.08, 40.25, and 1.44 kJ/mol, entropy (ΔSExp.) 113.75, 128.84, and 15.10 J/mol-K, free energy (ΔGExp.) was -44.57, -46.62, and -6.86 kJ/mol, respectively. When the nylon data is compared, the nylon 610α exhibits a significantly higher free energy, at high temperatures, the process is spontaneous and exergonic, making it a potentially viable material for use as fibers and engineering thermoplastics.

Excitations follow (or lead?) density scaling in propylene carbonate

Structural excitations that enable interbasin (IB) barrier crossings on a potential energy landscape are thought to play a facilitating role in the relaxation of liquids. Here, we show that the population of these excitations exhibits the same density scaling observed for α relaxation in propylene carbonate, even though they are heavily influenced by intramolecular modes. We also find that IB crossing modes exhibit a Gr[Formula: see text]neisen parameter ( γ G) that is approximately equivalent to the density scaling parameter γ TS. These observations suggest that the well-documented relationship between γ G and γ TS may be a direct result of the pressure dependence of the frequency of unstable (relaxation) modes associated with IB motion.

Orientation Polarization Spectroscopy-Toward an Atomistic Understanding of Dielectric Relaxation Processes

The theory of orientation polarization and dielectric relaxation was developed by P. Debye more than 100 years ago. It is based on approximating a molecule by a sphere having one or more dipole moments. By that the detailed intra- and intermolecular interactions are explicitly not taken into consideration. In this article, the principal limitations of the Debye approximation are discussed. Taking advantage of the molecular specificity of the infrared (IR) spectral range, measurements of the specific IR absorption of the stretching vibration υ(OH) (at 3370 cm⁻¹) and the asymmetric υ_as(CH₂) (at 2862.9 cm⁻¹) are performed in dependence on the frequency and the strength of external electric fields and at varying temperature. The observed effects are interpreted as caused by orientation polarization of the OH and the adjacent CH₂ moieties.

Glassy dynamics in polyalcohols: intermolecular simplicity vs. intramolecular complexity

Using depolarized light scattering, we have recently shown that structural relaxation in a broad range of supercooled liquids follows, to good approximation, a generic line shape with high-frequency power law ω^-1/2. We now continue this study by investigating a systematic series of polyalcohols (PAs), frequently used as model-systems in glass-science, i.a., because the width of their respective dielectric loss spectra varies strongly along the series. Our results reveal that the microscopic origin of the observed relaxation behavior varies significantly between different PAs: while short-chained PAs like glycerol rotate as more or less rigid entities and their light scattering spectra follow the generic shape, long-chained PAs like sorbitol display pronounced intramolecular dynamic contributions on the time scale of structural relaxation, leading to systematic deviations from the generic shape. Based on these findings we discuss an important limitation for observing the generic shape in a supercooled liquid: the dynamics that is probed needs to reflect the intermolecular dynamic heterogeneity, and must not be superimposed by effects of intramolecular dynamic heterogeneity.

Homogeneous nucleation in polyamide 66, a two-stage process as revealed by combined nanocalorimetry and IR spectroscopy

Nanocalorimetry and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy are combined to measure the calorimetric properties and molecular spectra of the same sample (sample amount about 5 ng) of polyamide 66 (PA66). By determining IR difference absorption spectra between a quenched and a sample annealed at varying temperatures (Ta) and annealing time (ta), the initial steps of homogeneous nucleation is for the first time revealed on a molecular scale, long before crystallization takes place. As starting point (i), isolated H-bonds are formed between (N–H) and (C = O) moieties of adjacent (neighboring) polymer segments promoted by far-reaching dipole–dipole interactions. In the second step (ii), the H-bonds realign, which in part requires the opening of already established H-bonds. In stage (i), the FTIR absorption intensity of the free (C = O)f moieties decreases while that of the H-bonded (C = O)b ones increases as a function of Ta at constant ta. This implies an increase in the H-bonding network in amorphous domains. The second stage of nucleation in the studied PA66 is characterized by an increase in the number of (C = O)f and a corresponding decrease in (C = O)b moieties as the sample transitions to the ordered crystalline structure. This is attributed to a change from γ to α polymorphs in PA66. The non-polar methylene units in PA66 are largely unaffected during the nucleation steps, where no changes in the overall heat capacity are detectable, proving that these changes occur prior to the onset of crystal growth.

Graphical abstract

Lifetime-Associated Two-Dimensional Infrared Spectroscopy Reveals the Hydrogen-Bond Structure of Supercooled Water in Soft Confinement

We demonstrate a method to address the problem of spectral overlap in multidimensional vibrational spectroscopy and use it to investigate supercooled aqueous sorbitol solutions. The absence of crystallization in these solutions has been attributed to "soft" confinement of water in subnanometer voids in the sorbitol matrix, but the details of the hydrogen-bond structure are still largely unknown. 2D-IR spectroscopy of the OH-stretch mode is an excellent tool to investigate hydrogen bonding, but in this case it seems difficult because of the overlapping water and sorbitol contributions to the 2D-IR spectrum. Using the difference in OH-stretch lifetimes of water and sorbitol we can cleanly separate these contributions. Surprisingly, the separated 2D-IR spectra show that the hydrogen-bond disorder of soft-confined water is independent of temperature and decoupled from its orientational order. We believe the approach we use to separate overlapping 2D-IR spectra will enhance the applicability of 2D-IR spectroscopy to study multicomponent systems.