Viscous nonpolar liquids in confinement studied by mechanical solvation

Wen Wen, Ranko Richert

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Using surface selective triplet state solvation techniques, we study the relaxation behavior of nonpolar liquids near their glass transition in confinement to porous glass with 4 nm pore diameter. As specific liquid-surface interactions are not expected for alkanes, we ask whether a substantial frustration of the dynamics is a general phenomenon for such liquids, and how the effects change with surface silanization. We find that interfacial dynamics display relaxation times that are increased by orders of magnitude for several nonpolar molecular liquids. Silanization removes this frustration effect almost entirely. Regarding the comparison of native versus silanized pore surfaces, it is concluded that the strong adhesive forces involved in alkanes wetting silica can explain the sluggish interfacial dynamics. The findings are not consistent with finite size effects.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number084710
JournalJournal of Chemical Physics
Volume131
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 2009

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Viscous nonpolar liquids in confinement studied by mechanical solvation'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this