skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Mixing it up - Measuring diffusion in supercooled liquid solutions of methanol and ethanol at temperatures near the glass transition

Journal Article · · The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2(6):557-561
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/jz2000744· OSTI ID:1010467

Do liquid mixtures, cooled to temperatures below their freezing point, behave as normal liquids? We address this question using nanoscale films of methanol and ethanol supercooled liquid solutions of varying composition (7 -93% methanol) at temperatures near their glass transition,Tg. The permeation of Kr through these films is used to determine the diffusivities of the supercooled liquid mixtures. We find that the temperature dependent diffusivities of the mixtures are well-fit by a Vogel-Fulcher-Tamman equation indicating that the mixtures exhibit fragile behavior at temperatures just above their Tg. Further, for a given temperature, the composition dependent diffusivity is well-fit by a Vignes-type equation, i.e. the diffusivity of any mixture can be predicted using an exponential weighting of the diffusion of the pure methanol and ethanol diffusivities. These results show that deeply supercooled liquid mixtures can be used to provide valuable insight into the properties of normal liquid mixtures.

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:
1010467
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-77068; 39898; KC0301020; TRN: US201107%%169
Journal Information:
The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2(6):557-561, Vol. 2, Issue 6
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Using Rare Gas Permeation to Probe Methanol Diffusion near the Glass Transition Temperature
Journal Article · Fri Dec 11 00:00:00 EST 2009 · Physical Review Letters, 103(24):Article Number: 245902 · OSTI ID:1010467

Probing the Mobility of Supercooled Liquid 3-Methylpentane at Temperatures Near the Glass Transition Using Rare Gas Permeation
Journal Article · Tue Aug 14 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · Journal of Chemical Physics, 137(6):Article No. 064509 · OSTI ID:1010467

The Self-diffusivity of Amorphous Solid Water Near 150 K
Journal Article · Mon Aug 21 00:00:00 EDT 2000 · Chemical Physics, 258(3):291-305 · OSTI ID:1010467