Three Coupled Relations for Relaxations in Complex Systemsa

Nanoparticles influence miscibility in LCST polymer blends: from fundamental perspective to current applications

Polymer blending is an effective method that can be used to fabricate new versatile materials with enhanced properties. The blending of two polymers can result in either a miscible or an immiscible polymer blend system. This present review provides an in-depth summary of the miscibility of LCST polymer blend systems, an area that has garnered much attention in the past few years. The initial discourse of the present review mainly focuses on process-induced changes in the miscibility of polymer blend systems, and how the preparation of polymer blends affects their final properties. This review further highlights how nanoparticles induce miscibility and describes the various methods that can be implemented to avoid nanoparticle aggregation. The concepts and different state-of-the-art experimental methods which can be used to determine miscibility in polymer blends are also highlighted. Lastly, the importance of studying miscible polymer blends is extensively explored by looking at their importance in barrier materials, EMI shielding, corrosion protection, light-emitting diodes, gas separation, and lithium battery applications. The primary goal of this review is to cover the journey from the fundamental aspects of miscible polymer blends to their applications.

Weak and Strong Gels and the Emergence of the Amorphous Solid State

Gels are amorphous solids whose macroscopic viscoelastic response derives from constraints in the material that serve to localize the constituent molecules or particles about their average positions in space. These constraints may either be local in nature, as in chemical cross-linking and direct physical associations, or non-local, as in case of topological "entanglement" interactions between highly extended fiber or sheet structures in the fluid. Either of these interactions, or both combined, can lead to "gelation" or "amorphous solidification". While gels are often considered to be inherently non-equilibrium materials, and correspondingly termed "soft glassy matter", this is not generally the case. For example, the formation of vulcanized rubbers by cross-linking macromolecules can be exactly described as a second order phase transition from an equilibrium fluid to an equilibrium solid state, and amorphous solidification also arises in diverse physical gels in which molecular and particle localization occurs predominantly through transient molecuar associations, or even topological interactions. As equilibrium, or near equilibrium systems, such gels can be expected to exhibit universal linear and non-linear viscoelastic properties, especially near the "critical" conditions at which the gel state first emerges. In particular, a power-law viscoelastic response is frequently observed in gel materials near their "gelation" or "amorphous solidification" transition. Another basic property of physical gels of both theoretical and practical interest is their response to large stresses at constant shear rate or under a fixed macrocopic strain. In particular, these materials are often quite sensitive to applied stresses that can cause the self-assembled structure to progressively break down under flow or deformation. This disintegration of gel structure can lead to "yield" of the gel material, i.e., a fluidization transition, followed by shear thinning of the resulting heterogeneous "jelly-like" fluid. When the stress is removed, however, the material can relax back to its former equilibrium gel state, i.e., gel rejuvenation. In constrast, a non-equilibrium material will simply change its form and properties in a way that depends on processing history. Physical gels are thus unique self-healing materials in which the existence of equilibrium ensures their eventual recovery. The existence of equilibrium also has implications for the nature of both the linear and non-linear rheological response of gel materials, and the present paper explores this phenomenon based on simple scaling arguments of the kind frequently used in describing phase transitions and the properties of polymer solutions.

1-Aza-15-Crown-5 Functionalized Graphene Oxide for 2D Graphene-Based Li⁺-ion Conductor

Attachment of Li(+) ion on graphene surface to realize Li(+)-ion conductor is a real challenge because of the weak interaction between the ions and the functional groups of graphene oxide; although, a large number of theoretical results are already available in the literature. To overcome this problem, graphene oxide is functionalized by 1-aza-15-crown-5, the cage-like structure containing four oxygens that can bind Li(+) ion through electrostatic interaction. Li(+) migration on graphene surface has been investigated using ac relaxation mechanism. Perfect Debye-type relaxation behavior with β (relaxation exponent) value ≈1 resulting from single ion is observed. The activation energy of Li(+) migration arising due to cation-π interaction is found to be 0.37 eV, which agrees well with recently reported theoretical value. It is believed that this study will help to design isolated ion conductors for Li(+)-ion battery.

Structural characteristics of a cooperatively rearranging region during the glass transition of a polymer system

Local ordered structures are formed during glass transition. These local orders preferred to move cooperatively during relaxation. In other words, the cooperatively rearranging regions contained some local order.

AC and DC Studies of Non-Exponential Relaxation Processes in Superionic Conductors: Correlation of Conductivity and NMR Studies

This paper considers the results of NMR relaxation studies of fast ion glasses in the light of variable frequency electrical conductivity measurements. We show that the low activation energy observed for relaxation processes studied at constant frequency below the temperature of the T1minimum is reproduced by the corresponding constant frequency conductivity measurements. Other characteristics of the constant frequency conductivity in this low activation energy regime, such as the unphysically low pre-exponent, match with the corresponding observations for NMR measurements. Since the activation energy observed at constant frequency in the frequency-dependent regime for conductivity depends on the characteristic departure from exponential relaxation for the conductivity process, we conclude that the NMR activation energy is likewise a simple consequence of the nonexponential character of ionic relaxation in the glass. In this case, the low activation energy attributed to processes probed by NMR relaxation is simply a misinterpretation since it is found, in the wide frequency range studies available to admittance bridge measurements, that all elements of the relaxation spectrum have essentially equal activation energies.

Segmental Relaxation in Crosslinked Rubber

Studies of the local segmental relaxation in rubbery networks reveal a variety of behaviors. In experiments on networks with labeled junctions, whereby the motion of the crosslink site is specifically monitored, the segmental relaxation function broadens, accompanied by a larger activation energy, in a manner well-described by the coupling model of relaxation. The more usual experiment simply measures bulk relaxation, without discriminating among different relaxing entities. For networks, crosslinking introduces a distribution of relaxation behaviors, related to the proximity of a moiety to the junctions. The resulting inhomogeneously broadened relaxation function is difficult to analyze; nevertheless, a heightened sensitivity to temperature (larger activation energy) is exhibited, from which inferences can be made regarding the shape of the relaxation function. Finally, the segmental relaxation of highly crosslinked microgels is ostensibly homogeneous. Interestingly, however, the inverse correlation between the stretch exponent, β, and the activation energy, observed quantitatively in conventional networks, is violated by the microgels.

AC Conductivity of Crystalline Materials and Glasses Ascribed to ADWPs

The behavior of the frequency dependence of the conductivity, σ(ω), of numerous crystalline materials and glasses is close to an ω1.0 dependence in the limit of low temperatures and/or high frequencies (referred to as the “nearly constant loss”, or NCL, regime). Detailed analysis of this behavior, including the frequency dependence of both ε′ and ε″, shows that it can be described phenomenologically as produced by a broad distribution of asymmetric double-well potentials (ADWPs) with low activation energies. In order to obtain an understanding of the atomic origins of such potentials, we investigate the composition dependence of this behavior in such materials as crystalline CeO2:1%Y3+ ceramics with variable [Y3+] and alkali germanate glasses with variable alkali concentration. The appearance of a discrete loss peak in CeO2: 1%Y3+ helps us understand the ADWPs as due to “off-symmetry” configurations that undergo wiggling motion between adjacent minimum-energy positions.

The nature of the glass transition in a silica-rich oxide melt

The atomic-scale dynamics of the glass-to-liquid transition are, in general, poorly understood in inorganic materials. Here, two-dimensional magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance spectra collected just above the glass transition of K(2)Si(4)O(9) at temperatures as high as 583 degrees C are presented. Rates of exchange for silicon among silicate species, which involves Si-O bond breaking, have been measured and are shown to be closely related in time scale to those defined by viscosity. Thus, even at viscosities as high as 10(10) pascal seconds, local bond breaking (in contrast to the cooperative motion of large clusters) is of major importance in the control of macroscopic flow and diffusion.

Broadband dielectric study on the water-concentration dependence of the primary and secondary processes for triethyleneglycol-water mixtures

Broadband dielectric measurements for triethyleneglycol (3EG)-water mixtures with various concentrations were performed in the frequency range of 10 muHz-10 GHz and in the temperature range of 130-298 K . For each mixture, the separation of the primary (alpha) and secondary processes is observed below the crossover temperature, TC. In the case of 80-100 wt% 3EG-water mixtures, the Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts-type primary process above TC continues to the alpha process below TC, and an additional secondary process is observed in the frequency range higher than that of the alpha process below TC. On the other hand, the primary process for 65 and 70 wt% 3EG-water mixtures above TC continues to the higher-frequency secondary process below TC, and an additional alpha process appears at a frequency lower than that of the secondary process. The contribution of water to relaxation processes is discussed, to clarify the molecular mechanism of the separation behavior. The characteristic separation behavior of the relaxation processes for high-water-content 3EG-water mixtures is due to the existence of excess water, which cannot move cooperatively with solute 3EG molecules below TC.

Dielectric study of the α and β processes in supercooled ethylene glycol oligomer–water mixtures

Broadband dielectric measurements for 65 wt % ethylene glycol oligomer (EGO)-water mixtures with one to six repeat units of EGO molecules were performed in the frequency range of 10 microHz-10 GHz and the temperature range of 128-298 K. In the case of the water-EGO mixtures with one and two repeat units of the EGO molecule (small EGO), the shape of the dielectric loss peak of the primary process is asymmetrical about the logarithm of the frequency of maximum loss above the crossover temperature, T(C). The asymmetric process continues to the alpha process at a low frequency, and an additional beta process appears in the frequency range higher than that of the alpha process below T(C). In contrast, the water-EGO mixtures with three or more repeat units of the EGO molecule (large EGO) show a broad and symmetrical loss peak of the primary process above T(C). The symmetric process continues to the beta process, and an additional alpha process appears in the frequency range lower than that of the beta process below T(C). These different scenarios of the alpha-beta separation related to the shape of the loss peak above T(C) are a result of the difference in the cooperative motion of water and solute molecules. The solute and water molecules move cooperatively in the small EGO-water mixtures above T(C), and this cooperative motion leads to the asymmetric loss peak above T(C) and the alpha process below T(C). For the large EGO-water mixtures, the spatially restricted motion of water confined by solute molecules leads to the symmetric loss peak above T(C) and the beta process below T(C).