Thermal characterization of static and dynamical properties of the confined molecular systems interacting through dispersion force

Thermodynamic behavior and polymorphism of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate composites with multiwalled carbon nanotubes

Based on room-temperature densities measured in this research for ionic nanofluids (INFs) with four ionic liquids (ILs), we conclude that evacuation is a necessary step to maximize the IL penetration into multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). An improved procedure for reproducible preparation of INFs is proposed. Thermal behavior of five (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate + MWCNT) samples was studied by adiabatic calorimetry over the temperature range (78 to 370) K. The samples contained from 0.11 to 0.92 mass fraction of the nanophase. Their appearance changed from the fluid to the powder with increasing the MWCNT content. For the fluid samples, the specific heat capacity was found be an additive quantity of the specific heat capacities of the components for the crystal and liquid phases, and the temperatures of phase transitions did not change relative to the bulk values. For the powder-like sample with the highest IL content, a sigmoidal heat capacity curve was observed. Thus, the internal diameter of the studied MWCNT was small enough to switch from the isothermal melting process to the gradual transition from the crystal-like structures to the liquid-like ones.

Low-temperature heat capacities of confined liquid benzene, implying the behavior of ordinary bulk liquids

Isobaric heat capacities C p of benzene confined in silica MCM-41 mesopores with average diameters equal to and smaller than 2.9 nm were measured by precise adiabatic calorimetry. The confined benzene samples revealed no thermal anomaly due to crystallization/fusion and vitrified at low temperatures. The C p curves displayed a hump and a considerably quick decrease on the low-temperature side of the hump as the pore diameter increased. The enthalpy-relaxation effects observed on intermittent heating showed that the anomaly of the C p hump and quick decrease is not assigned to a glass transition. The bend in the temperature dependence of density reported previously was interpreted as corresponding to the quick decrease in C p . We concluded that the anomalous C p and density behaviors originated from the ordering/excitation in the configurational state, close to the ground state, of confined molecular aggregate and proposed a scenario that explains the general C p curves of ordinary bulk supercooled liquids in equilibrium at low temperatures below the glass-transition temperatures.