1
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Nakane T, Sasaki T. Thickness-Dependent Segmental Dynamics in Supported Thin Films: Insights from a Dynamically Correlated Network Model. J Phys Chem B 2024; 128:9005-9013. [PMID: 39227037 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.4c02883] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/05/2024]
Abstract
A large body of experimental studies shows that the local dynamics in supercooled liquids are significantly altered by spatial nanoconfinement. In a previous study, we proposed a concept of a dynamically correlated network (DCN) model, which assumes that segments in a supercooled liquid undergo cooperative rearrangements within a network-like cluster. We further demonstrated that a model modified for freestanding thin films can predict for the glass transition dynamics in atactic polystyrene (PS) films consistent with experimental results. In this study, we adapted the model to apply it to supported thin films by introducing a layer of virtual vacant segments at the free surface and virtual anchoring segments at the liquid/substrate interface. The latter segments, carrying a finite number of virtual segments, reduce mobility at the interface. We evaluated the cooperative cluster size and distribution with respect to temperature and film thickness, along with the average relaxation time and glass transition temperature Tg for supported thin films of PS. The model predicted that the thickness dependence of Tg for PS becomes stronger with increasing time scale, and this result agreed well with experimental data across different timescales from pseudothermodynamic and dynamic measurements. The results provide insights into the origin of the dynamical decoupling between pseudothermodynamic and dynamic glass transition behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tatsuki Nakane
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Fukui, Fukui 9108507, Japan
| | - Takashi Sasaki
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Fukui, Fukui 9108507, Japan
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2
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Ye Z, Zhang H, Riggleman RA. Local dynamics and failure of inhomogeneous polymer networks. SOFT MATTER 2024; 20:4734-4743. [PMID: 38836817 DOI: 10.1039/d4sm00087k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2024]
Abstract
Inhomogeneous crosslinked polymers are powerful platforms for materials design, because they can be synthesized from materials that provide complimentary properties to the resulting gel. For example, a membrane with both glassy and rubbery domains will be mechanically robust while enabling transport. The dynamics, and mechanical and failure properties of rubbery/glassy conetworks are only beginning to be studied, and there is likely to be strong heterogeneities in the dynamics and mechanical response. In this study, we use coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to generate microphase separated rubbery/glassy polymer networks with a bicontinuous morphology via in silico crosslinking. We study the effect of phase boundary on the local mobility gradient, and our simulation results reveal an asymmetric shift in the local mobility gradient across the interface that extends deeper into the phase with a lower Tg when the system temperature is between the glass transition temperatures of the two phases. Moreover, by employing a model that allows bond breaking, we examine the microscopic mechanism for failure in these networks as a function of the molecular weight of polymer strands between crosslinks and the number fraction of the glassy domain. Under uniaxial extension, we find that the stress is initially larger in the glassy domain. As the deformation proceeds, the segmental dynamics of the two phases homogenize, and subsequently bond breaking begins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziyu Ye
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Han Zhang
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| | - Robert A Riggleman
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
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3
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Cheng S, Kogut D, Zheng J, Patil S, Yang F, Lu W. Dynamics of polylactic acid under ultrafine nanoconfinement: The collective interface effect and the spatial gradient. J Chem Phys 2024; 160:114904. [PMID: 38506298 DOI: 10.1063/5.0189762] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2023] [Accepted: 02/16/2024] [Indexed: 03/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Polymers under nanoconfinement can exhibit large alterations in dynamics from their bulk values due to an interface effect. However, understanding the interface effect remains a challenge, especially in the ultrafine nanoconfinement region. In this work, we prepare new geometries with ultrafine nanoconfinement ∼10nm through controlled distributions of the crystalline phases and the amorphous phases of a model semi-crystalline polymer, i.e., the polylactic acid. The broadband dielectric spectroscopy measurements show that ultrafine nanoconfinement leads to a large elevation in the glass transition temperature and a strong increment in the polymer fragility index. Moreover, new relaxation time profile analyses demonstrate a spatial gradient that can be well described by either a single-exponential decay or a double-exponential decay functional form near the middle of the film with a collective interface effect. However, the dynamics at the 1-2 nm vicinity of the interface exhibit a power-law decay that is different from the single-exponential decay or double-exponential decay functional forms as predicted by theories. Thus, these results call for further investigations of the interface effect on polymer dynamics, especially for interfaces with perturbed chain packing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shiwang Cheng
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA
| | - David Kogut
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA
| | - Juncheng Zheng
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA
| | - Shalin Patil
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA
| | - Fuming Yang
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA
| | - Weiyi Lu
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA
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4
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Tsujioka T, Yamabayashi K, Kotani K. Surface Glass Transition Temperature Region of Diarylethene Films Determined by Nano-Marangoni Effect. SMALL (WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, GERMANY) 2024; 20:e2306145. [PMID: 37847904 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202306145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2023] [Revised: 09/28/2023] [Indexed: 10/19/2023]
Abstract
For the last two decades, research has addressed whether the glass transition temperature and the molecular motions on the surface of organic films are significantly different from those inside the bulk glasses. It is reported that the surface of the photochromic diarylethene film prepared by vacuum deposition has fluidity and the vacuum deposition of small amount of rubrene molecules induces surface tension fluctuations, generating dents due to the Marangoni flow in nanoscale. The depth of the dents increases in proportion to these radii for the colorless diarylethene film with a bulk glass transition temperature (Tg) close to room temperature. On the other hand, in the colored diarylethene obtained by UV irradiation to the colorless film, the depth becomes constant at a certain level. The Tg distribution in the depth direction is clarified based on an analysis of the dent depth. By approximating the obtained Tg depth distribution with an exponential function, the outermost surface Tg is about 100 K lower than the bulk Tg in the case of photoisomerized diarylethene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tsuyoshi Tsujioka
- Division of Math, Sciences, and Information Technology in Education, Osaka Kyoiku University, 4-698-2, Asahigaoka, Kashiwara, Osaka, 582-8582, Japan
| | - Keishi Yamabayashi
- Division of Math, Sciences, and Information Technology in Education, Osaka Kyoiku University, 4-698-2, Asahigaoka, Kashiwara, Osaka, 582-8582, Japan
| | - Kazuma Kotani
- Division of Math, Sciences, and Information Technology in Education, Osaka Kyoiku University, 4-698-2, Asahigaoka, Kashiwara, Osaka, 582-8582, Japan
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5
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Phan AD, Schweizer KS. Effect of the nature of the solid substrate on spatially heterogeneous activated dynamics in glass forming supported films. J Chem Phys 2024; 160:074902. [PMID: 38364012 DOI: 10.1063/5.0188016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2023] [Accepted: 01/10/2024] [Indexed: 02/18/2024] Open
Abstract
We extend the force-level elastically collective nonlinear Langevin equation theory to treat the spatial gradients of the alpha relaxation time and glass transition temperature, and the corresponding film-averaged quantities, to the geometrically asymmetric case of finite thickness supported films with variable fluid-substrate coupling. The latter typically nonuniversally slows down motion near the solid-liquid interface as modeled via modification of the surface dynamic free energy caging constraints that are spatially transferred into the film and which compete with the accelerated relaxation gradient induced by the vapor interface. Quantitative applications to the foundational hard sphere fluid and a polymer melt are presented. The strength of the effective fluid-substrate coupling has very large consequences for the dynamical gradients and film-averaged quantities in a film thickness and thermodynamic state dependent manner. The interference of the dynamical gradients of opposite nature emanating from the vapor and solid interfaces is determined, including the conditions for the disappearance of a bulk-like region in the film center. The relative importance of surface-induced modification of local caging vs the generic truncation of the long range collective elastic component of the activation barrier is studied. The conditions for the accuracy and failure of a simple superposition approximation for dynamical gradients in thin films are also determined. The emergence of near substrate dead layers, large gradient effects on film-averaged response functions, and a weak non-monotonic evolution of dynamic gradients in thick and cold films are briefly discussed. The connection of our theoretical results to simulations and experiments is briefly discussed, as is the extension to treat more complex glass-forming systems under nanoconfinement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anh D Phan
- Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Phenikaa University, Hanoi 12116, Vietnam
- Phenikaa Institute for Advanced Study, Phenikaa University, Hanoi 12116, Vietnam
| | - Kenneth S Schweizer
- Departments of Materials Science, Chemistry, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
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6
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Hartley AD, Drayer WF, Ghanekarade A, Simmons DS. Interplay between dynamic heterogeneity and interfacial gradients in a model polymer film. J Chem Phys 2023; 159:204905. [PMID: 38032012 DOI: 10.1063/5.0165650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Glass-forming liquids exhibit long-lived, spatially correlated dynamical heterogeneity, in which some nm-scale regions in the fluid relax more slowly than others. In the nanoscale vicinity of an interface, glass-formers also exhibit the emergence of massive interfacial gradients in glass transition temperature Tg and relaxation time τ. Both of these forms of heterogeneity have a major impact on material properties. Nevertheless, their interplay has remained poorly understood. Here, we employ molecular dynamics simulations of polymer thin films in the isoconfigurational ensemble in order to probe how bulk dynamic heterogeneity alters and is altered by the large gradient in dynamics at the surface of a glass-forming liquid. Results indicate that the τ spectrum at the surface is broader than in the bulk despite being shifted to shorter times, and yet it is less spatially correlated. This is distinct from the bulk, where the τ distribution becomes broader and more spatially organized as the mean τ increases. We also find that surface gradients in slow dynamics extend further into the film than those in fast dynamics-a result with implications for how distinct properties are perturbed near an interface. None of these features track locally with changes in the heterogeneity of caging scale, emphasizing the local disconnect between these quantities near interfaces. These results are at odds with conceptions of the surface as reflecting simply a higher "rheological temperature" than the bulk, instead pointing to a complex interplay between bulk dynamic heterogeneity and spatially organized dynamical gradients at interfaces in glass-forming liquids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Austin D Hartley
- Department of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering, The University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620, USA
| | - William F Drayer
- Department of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering, The University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620, USA
| | - Asieh Ghanekarade
- Department of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering, The University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620, USA
| | - David S Simmons
- Department of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering, The University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620, USA
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7
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Ghanekarade A, Simmons DS. Glass formation and dynamics of model polymer films with one versus two active interfaces. SOFT MATTER 2023; 19:8413-8422. [PMID: 37877245 DOI: 10.1039/d3sm00719g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2023]
Abstract
Polymers and other glass-forming liquids can exhibit profound alterations in dynamics in the nanoscale vicinity of interfaces, over a range appreciably exceeding that of typical interfacial thermodynamic gradients. The understanding of these dynamical gradients is particularly complicated in systems with internal or external nanoscale dimensions, where a gradient nucleated at one interface can impinge on a second, potentially distinct, interface. To better understand the interactions that govern system dynamics and glass formation in these cases, here we simulate the baseline case of a glass-forming polymer film, over a wide range of thickness, supported on a dynamically neutral substrate that has little effect on nearby dynamics. We compare these results to our prior simulations of freestanding films. Results indicate that dynamical gradients in our simulated systems, as measured based upon translational relaxation, are simply truncated when they impinge on a secondary surface that is locally dynamically neutral. Altered film behavior can be described almost entirely by gradient effects down to the thinnest films probed, with no evidence for finite-size effects sometimes posited to play a role in these systems. Finally, our simulations predict that linear gradient overlap effects in the presence of symmetric dynamically active interfaces yield a non-monotonic variation of the whole free standing film stretching exponent (relaxation time distribution breadth). The maximum relaxation time distribution breadth in simulation is found at a film thickness of 4-5 times the interfacial gradient range. Observation of this maximum in experiment would provide an important validation that the gradient behavior observed in simulation persists to experimental timescales. If validated, observation of this maximum would potentially also enable determination of the dynamic gradient range from experimental mean-film measurements of film dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Asieh Ghanekarade
- Department of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering, The University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA.
| | - David S Simmons
- Department of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering, The University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA.
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8
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Yang E, Pressly JF, Natarajan B, Colby R, Winey KI, Riggleman RA. Understanding creep suppression mechanisms in polymer nanocomposites through machine learning. SOFT MATTER 2023; 19:7580-7590. [PMID: 37755065 DOI: 10.1039/d3sm00898c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/28/2023]
Abstract
While recent efforts have shown how local structure plays an essential role in the dynamic heterogeneity of homogeneous glass-forming materials, systems containing interfaces such as thin films or composite materials remain poorly understood. It is known that interfaces perturb the molecular packing nearby, however, numerous studies show the dynamics are modified over a much larger range. Here, we examine the dynamics in polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) using a combination of simulations and experiments and quantitatively separate the role of polymer packing from other effects on the dynamics, as a function of distance from the nanoparticle surfaces. After showing good qualitative agreement between the simulations and experiments in glassy structure and creep compliance, we use a machine-learned structure indicator, softness, to decompose polymer dynamics in our simulated PNCs into structure-dependent and structure-independent processes. With this decomposition, the free energy barrier for polymer rearrangement can be described as a combination of packing-dependent and packing-independent barriers. We find both barriers are higher near nanoparticles and decrease with applied stress, quantitatively demonstrating that the slow interfacial dynamics is not solely due to polymer packing differences, but also the change of structure-dynamics relationships. Finally, we present how this decomposition can be used to accurately predict strain-time creep curves for PNCs from their static configuration, providing additional insights into the effects of polymer-nanoparticle interfaces on creep suppression in PNCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Entao Yang
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| | - James F Pressly
- Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| | - Bharath Natarajan
- ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company, Annandale, NJ 08801, USA
| | - Robert Colby
- ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company, Annandale, NJ 08801, USA
| | - Karen I Winey
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
- Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| | - Robert A Riggleman
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
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9
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Lepcio P, Daguerre-Bradford J, Cristadoro AM, Schuette M, Lesser AJ. Frontally polymerized foams: thermodynamic and kinetical aspects of front hindrance by particles. MATERIALS HORIZONS 2023. [PMID: 37191139 DOI: 10.1039/d2mh01553f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
Frontal polymerization (FP) is a solvent-free, energy-efficient process where a self-propagating polymerization reaction with a characteristic sharp temperature gradient at the front head propagates through the resin to provide the curing conditions. It relies on the enthalpic balance, which spreads the reaction to unreacted resin in the neighborhood. Therefore, the FP is sensitive to the presence of non-reactive volumes, such as boundaries, fillers, or other additives, that retain heat from the front but produce no enthalpy in return. On the other hand, the front's high temperature could be used to initiate other processes, such as foaming, incorporating them into a simple single-step fabrication procedure. This study used silica particles of two different sizes (14 nm and 200-300 nm) in an epoxy-based FP foam as a representative filler to probe the constraints imposed by non-reactive additives. The presence of particles visibly hindered the front propagation, increased the foam density and even corrupted the frontal regime in some cases. We show that preheating or chemical composition changes are viable approaches to address the fillers' adverse effects. Furthermore, we present evidence that the reduced reaction enthalpy caused by silica nanoparticles, was balanced by the lower heat capacity of our model system. At the same time, the front hindrance was attributed to changes in reaction kinetics and the heat distribution around the front. These results set up essential narratives for the design and practical applications of frontally polymerized foams with non-reactive fillers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petr Lepcio
- Central European Institute of Technology, Brno University of Technology, Purkyňova 656/123, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | | | | | - Markus Schuette
- BASF Polyurethanes, Elastogranstr 60, Lemfoerde, 49448, Germany
| | - Alan J Lesser
- University of Massachusetts Amherst, 120 Governors Drive, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
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10
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Jin J, Schweizer KS, Voth GA. Understanding dynamics in coarse-grained models. II. Coarse-grained diffusion modeled using hard sphere theory. J Chem Phys 2023; 158:034104. [PMID: 36681632 DOI: 10.1063/5.0116300] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The first paper of this series [J. Chem. Phys. 158, 034103 (2023)] demonstrated that excess entropy scaling holds for both fine-grained and corresponding coarse-grained (CG) systems. Despite its universality, a more exact determination of the scaling relationship was not possible due to the semi-empirical nature. In this second paper, an analytical excess entropy scaling relation is derived for bottom-up CG systems. At the single-site CG resolution, effective hard sphere systems are constructed that yield near-identical dynamical properties as the target CG systems by taking advantage of how hard sphere dynamics and excess entropy can be analytically expressed in terms of the liquid packing fraction. Inspired by classical equilibrium perturbation theories and recent advances in constructing hard sphere models for predicting activated dynamics of supercooled liquids, we propose a new approach for understanding the diffusion of molecular liquids in the normal regime using hard sphere reference fluids. The proposed "fluctuation matching" is designed to have the same amplitude of long wavelength density fluctuations (dimensionless compressibility) as the CG system. Utilizing the Enskog theory to derive an expression for hard sphere diffusion coefficients, a bridge between the CG dynamics and excess entropy is then established. The CG diffusion coefficient can be roughly estimated using various equations of the state, and an accurate prediction of accelerated CG dynamics at different temperatures is also possible in advance of running any CG simulation. By introducing another layer of coarsening, these findings provide a more rigorous method to assess excess entropy scaling and understand the accelerated CG dynamics of molecular fluids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaehyeok Jin
- Department of Chemistry, Chicago Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, and James Franck Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
| | - Kenneth S Schweizer
- Department of Material Science, Department of Chemistry, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
| | - Gregory A Voth
- Department of Chemistry, Chicago Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, and James Franck Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
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11
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Ghanekarade A, Simmons DS. Combined Mixing and Dynamical Origins of Tg Alterations Near Polymer–Polymer Interfaces. Macromolecules 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.2c01621] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Asieh Ghanekarade
- Department of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida33544, United States
| | - David S. Simmons
- Department of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida33544, United States
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12
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Wang T, Hu S, Zhang S, Peera A, Reffner J, Torkelson JM. Eliminating the Tg-Confinement Effect in Polystyrene Films: Extraordinary Impact of a 2 mol % 2-Ethylhexyl Acrylate Comonomer. Macromolecules 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.2c01917] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Tong Wang
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois60208, United States
| | - Sumeng Hu
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois60208, United States
| | - Sipei Zhang
- The Dow Chemical Company, 400 Arcola Road, Collegeville, Pennsylvania19426, United States
| | - Asghar Peera
- The Dow Chemical Company, 400 Arcola Road, Collegeville, Pennsylvania19426, United States
| | - John Reffner
- The Dow Chemical Company, 400 Arcola Road, Collegeville, Pennsylvania19426, United States
| | - John M. Torkelson
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois60208, United States
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois60208, United States
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13
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Phan AD. Screening and collective effects in randomly pinned fluids: a new theoretical framework. JOURNAL OF PHYSICS. CONDENSED MATTER : AN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS JOURNAL 2022; 34:435101. [PMID: 35985315 DOI: 10.1088/1361-648x/ac8b51] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2022] [Accepted: 08/19/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
We propose a theoretical framework for the dynamics of bulk isotropic hard-sphere systems in the presence of randomly pinned particles and apply this theory to supercooled water to validate it. Structural relaxation is mainly governed by local and non-local activated process. As the pinned fraction grows, a local caging constraint becomes stronger and the long range collective aspect of relaxation is screened by immobile obstacles. Different responses of the local and cooperative motions results in subtle predictions for how the alpha relaxation time varies with pinning and density. Our theoretical analysis for the relaxation time of water with pinned molecules quantitatively well describe previous simulations. In addition, the thermal dependence of relaxation for unpinned bulk water is also consistent with prior computational and experimental data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anh D Phan
- Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Phenikaa Institute for Advanced Study, Phenikaa University, Hanoi 12116, Vietnam
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14
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Drayer WF, Simmons DS. Sequence Effects on the Glass Transition of a Model Copolymer System. Macromolecules 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.2c00664] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- William F. Drayer
- Department of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620, United States
| | - David S. Simmons
- Department of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620, United States
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15
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Xing Z, Zhu N, Yang Y, Wang X, Zuo B. Alternating chain sequence weakening of interfacial molecular interactions enhances the Tg confinement effect of polymers. Polym J 2022. [DOI: 10.1038/s41428-022-00672-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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16
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Mei B, Lin TW, Sheridan GS, Evans CM, Sing CE, Schweizer KS. Structural Relaxation and Vitrification in Dense Cross-Linked Polymer Networks: Simulation, Theory, and Experiment. Macromolecules 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.2c00277] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Baicheng Mei
- Department of Materials Science, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Tsai-Wei Lin
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Grant S. Sheridan
- Department of Materials Science, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Christopher M. Evans
- Department of Materials Science, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Charles E. Sing
- Department of Materials Science, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Kenneth S. Schweizer
- Department of Materials Science, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
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17
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Jaeger TD, Simmons DS. Temperature dependence of aging dynamics in highly non-equilibrium model polymer glasses. J Chem Phys 2022; 156:114504. [DOI: 10.1063/5.0080717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
A central feature of the non-equilibrium glassy “state” is its tendency to age toward equilibrium, obeying signatures identified by Kovacs over 50 years ago. The origin of these signatures, their fate far from equilibrium and at high temperatures, and the underlying nature of the glassy “state” far from equilibrium remain unsettled. Here, we simulate physical aging of polymeric glasses, driven much farther from equilibrium and at much higher temperatures than possible in experimental melt-quenched glasses. While these glasses exhibit Kovacs’ signatures of glassy aging at sufficiently low temperatures, these signatures disappear above the onset TA of non-Arrhenius equilibrium dynamics, suggesting that TA demarcates an upper bound to genuinely glassy states. Aging times in glasses after temperature up-jumps are found to obey an Arrhenius law interpolating between equilibrium dynamics at TA and at the start of the temperature up-jump, providing a zero-parameter rule predicting their aging behavior and identifying another unrecognized centrality of TA to aging behavior. This differs qualitatively from behavior of our glasses produced by temperature down-jumps, which exhibit a fractional power law decoupling relation with equilibrium dynamics. While the Tool–Narayanaswamy–Moynihan model can predict the qualitative single-temperature behavior of these systems, we find that it fails to predict the disappearance of Kovacs signatures above TA and the temperature dependence of aging after large temperature up-jumps. These findings highlight a need for new theoretical insights into the aging behavior of glasses at ultra-high fictive temperatures and far from equilibrium.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tamara D. Jaeger
- Department of Polymer Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, USA
| | - David S. Simmons
- Department of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620, USA
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18
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Li Y, Bishop C, Cui K, Schmidt JR, Ediger MD, Yu L. Surface diffusion of a glassy discotic organic semiconductor and the surface mobility gradient of molecular glasses. J Chem Phys 2022; 156:094710. [PMID: 35259874 DOI: 10.1063/5.0079890] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Surface diffusion has been measured in the glass of an organic semiconductor, MTDATA, using the method of surface grating decay. The decay rate was measured as a function of temperature and grating wavelength, and the results indicate that the decay mechanism is viscous flow at high temperatures and surface diffusion at low temperatures. Surface diffusion in MTDATA is enhanced by 4 orders of magnitude relative to bulk diffusion when compared at the glass transition temperature Tg. The result on MTDATA has been analyzed along with the results on other molecular glasses without extensive hydrogen bonds. In total, these systems cover a wide range of molecular geometries from rod-like to quasi-spherical to discotic and their surface diffusion coefficients vary by 9 orders of magnitude. We find that the variation is well explained by the existence of a steep surface mobility gradient and the anchoring of surface molecules at different depths. Quantitative analysis of these results supports a recently proposed double-exponential form for the mobility gradient: log D(T, z) = log Dv(T) + [log D0 - log Dv(T)]exp(-z/ξ), where D(T, z) is the depth-dependent diffusion coefficient, Dv(T) is the bulk diffusion coefficient, D0 ≈ 10-8 m2/s, and ξ ≈ 1.5 nm. Assuming representative bulk diffusion coefficients for these fragile glass formers, the model reproduces the presently known surface diffusion rates within 0.6 decade. Our result provides a general way to predict the surface diffusion rates in molecular glasses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuhui Li
- School of Pharmacy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA
| | - Camille Bishop
- Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
| | - Kai Cui
- Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
| | - J R Schmidt
- Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
| | - M D Ediger
- Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
| | - Lian Yu
- School of Pharmacy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA
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19
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Phan AD. Confinement Effects on the Spatially Inhomogeneous Dynamics in Metallic Glass Films. J Phys Chem B 2022; 126:1609-1614. [PMID: 35166111 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c08862] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
This work develops the elastically collective nonlinear Langevin equation theory to investigate, for the first time, the glassy dynamics in capped metallic glass thin films. Finite-size effects on the spatial gradient of structural relaxation time and glass transition temperature (Tg) are calculated at different temperatures and vitrification criteria. Molecular dynamics is significantly slowed down near rough solid surfaces, and the dynamics at location far from the interfaces is sped up. In thick films, the mobility gradient normalized by the bulk value obeys the double-exponential form since interference effects between two surfaces are weak. Reducing the film thickness induces a strong dynamic coupling between two surfaces and flattens the relaxation gradient. The normalized gradient of the glass transition temperature is independent of vitrification time scale criterion and can be fitted by a superposition function as the films are not ultrathin. The local fragility is found to remain unchanged with location. This finding suggests that one can use Angell plots of bulk relaxation time and the Tg spatial gradient to characterize glassy dynamics in metallic glass films. Our computational results agree well with experimental data and simulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anh D Phan
- Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Phenikaa Institute for Advanced Study, Phenikaa University, Hanoi 12116, Vietnam
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20
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Ginzburg VV. Modeling the Glass Transition of Free-Standing Polymer Thin Films Using the “SL-TS2” Mean-Field Approach. Macromolecules 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.1c02370] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Valeriy V. Ginzburg
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, 428 S. Shaw Lane, Room 2100, East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1226, United States
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21
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Mei B, Zhou Y, Schweizer KS. Experimental Tests of a Theoretically Predicted Noncausal Correlation between Dynamics and Thermodynamics in Glass-forming Polymer Melts. Macromolecules 2021. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.1c01633] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Baicheng Mei
- Department of Materials Science, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Material Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Yuxing Zhou
- Department of Materials Science, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Material Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Kenneth S. Schweizer
- Department of Materials Science, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Material Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
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