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Title: Mobility of Supercooled liquid Toluene, Ethylbenzene, and Benzene near their Glass Transition Temperatures Investigated using Inert Gas Permeation

Journal Article · · Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 117(46):11881-11889
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/jp403093e· OSTI ID:1114892

We investigate the mobility of supercooled liquid toluene, ethylbenzene, and benzene near their respective glass transition temperatures (Tg). The permeation rate of Ar, Kr, and Xe through the supercooled liquid created when initially amorphous overlayers heated above their glass transition temperature is used to determine the diffusivity. Amorphous benzene crystallizes at temperatures well below its Tg and as a result the inert gas underlayer remains trapped until the onset of benzene desorption. In contrast, for toluene and ethylbenzene the onset of inert gas permeation is observed at temperatues near Tg. The inert gas desorption peak temperature as a function of the heating rate and overlayer thickness is used to quantify the diffusivity of supercooled liquid toluene and ethylbenzene from 115 K to 135 K. In this temperature range, diffusivities are found to vary across five orders of magnitude (~10-14 to 10-9 cm2/s). These data are compared to viscosity measurements and used to determine the low temperature fractional Stokes-Einstein exponent. Efforts to determine the diffusivity of a mixture of benzene and ethylbenzene are detailed, and the effect of mixing these materials on benzene crystallization is explored using infrared spectroscopy.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab. (EMSL)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1114892
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-94553; 39898; KC0301020
Journal Information:
Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 117(46):11881-11889, Journal Name: Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 117(46):11881-11889
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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