Systematic study of the glass transition in polyhydric alcohols

作者：Nakanishi Masahiro^*; Nozaki Ryusuke

来源：Physical Review E, 2011, 83(5): 051503.

DOI：10.1103/PhysRevE.83.051503

We have investigated the glass transitions of trihydric alcohols using broadband dielectric spectroscopy, and compare the results with those previously reported for sugar alcohols. Although a systematic glass transition feature related to molecular size has been reported for sugar alcohols, the essential factor governing this feature is still unclear because the number of carbon atoms (N-C) and the number of OH groups (N-OH) per molecule are identical in sugar alcohols. By examining trihydric alcohols (N-C not equal N-OH), we conclude that N-OH is dominant for the characteristics of the slow dynamics, such as fragility and glass transition temperature. This result suggests that the topological structure of the hydrogen-bonding network (coordination number) plays an important role in the glass transition of polyhydric alcohols. Furthermore, the orientational correlation factor evaluated using the Kirkwood-Frohlich theory reveals a similarity in hydrogen bond formation among a variety of polyhydric alcohols. Based on these two experimental results, we discuss a possible physical picture of the glass transition of polyhydric alcohols.

• 出版日期2011-5-13