TY - JOUR A1 - Brás, A.R. A1 - Dionísio, M. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Confinement and Surface Effects on the Molecular Dynamics of a Nematic Mixture Investigated by Dielectric Relaxation Spectroscopy N2 - Broadband dielectric spectroscopy (10-2-109 Hz) was employed to investigate the molecular dynamics of the liquid crystalline mixture E7 confined in both untreated and lecithin-treated 20 nm Anopore membranes. Because E7 does not crystallize, it was possible to cover a temperature range of more than 200 K, providing an exhaustive dielectric characterization of a liquid crystal confined to Anopore membranes for the first time. In the nematic state, the tumbling (α-) and the δ-relaxation are observed, also under confinement conditions. The analysis of their relative intensities give that the orientation of the E7 molecules is preferentially axial in untreated but opposite radial in lecithin-treated pores. The radial alignment of the liquid crystals in the modified membrane is understood as a tail-to-tail conformation of E7 molecules imposed by the adsorbed lecithin molecules. The relaxation rate of the α-process is enhanced for E7 confined in native Anopore compared with the bulk and E7 in treated pores. This is interpreted as resulting from a less dense molecular packing of E7 in the middle of the pore compared to the bulk. In both untreated and treated membranes, the relaxation rate of the δ-process is higher than in the bulk, and the values of the respective Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann temperatures depend on the actual surface treatment. Additionally, a surface process, due to molecular fluctuations of molecules within an adsorbed layer at the pore wall, was detected. PY - 2008 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/jp802133e SN - 1520-6106 SN - 1520-5207 SN - 1089-5647 VL - 112 IS - 28 SP - 8227 EP - 8235 PB - Soc. CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-17802 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brás, A. R. A1 - Dionísio, M. A1 - Huth, H. A1 - Schick, C. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Origin of glassy dynamics in a liquid crystal studied by broadband dielectric and specific heat spectroscopy N2 - A combination of broadband dielectric (10-2 Hz–109 Hz) and specific heat (10-3 Hz–2×103 Hz) spectroscopy is employed to study the molecular dynamics of the glass-forming nematic liquid crystal E7 in a wide temperature range. In the region of the nematic phase the dielectric spectra show two relaxation processes which are expected theoretically: The δ relaxation which corresponds to rotational fluctuations of the molecules around its short axis and the tumbling mode at higher frequencies than the former one. For both processes the temperature dependence of the relaxation rates follows the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann formula which is characteristic for glassy dynamics. By applying a detailed data analysis, it is shown that close to the glass transition the tumbling mode has a much steeper temperature dependence than the δ process. The former has a Vogel temperature which is by 30 K higher than that of the δ relaxation. Specific heat spectroscopy gives one relaxation process in its temperature and frequency dependence which has to be assigned to the α relaxation (dynamic glass transition). The unique and detailed comparison of the temperature dependence of the dielectric and the thermal relaxation rates delivers unambiguously that the dielectric tumbling mode has to be related to the dynamic glass transition. PY - 2007 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.75.061708 SN - 1539-3755 SN - 1063-651X VL - 75 IS - 6 SP - 061708-1-061708-8 PB - American Institute of Physics CY - Melville, NY AN - OPUS4-15041 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brás, A. R. A1 - Noronha, J. P. A1 - Antunes, A. M. M. A1 - Cardoso, M. M. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas A1 - Affouard, F. A1 - Dionísio, M. A1 - Correia, N.T. T1 - Molecular motions in amorphous Ibuprofen as studied by broadband dielectric spectroscopy N2 - The molecular mobility of amorphous ibuprofen has been investigated by broadband dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS) covering a temperature range of more than 200 K. Four different relaxation processes, labeled as α, β, γ, and D, were detected and characterized, and a complete relaxation map was given for the first time. The γ-process has activation energy Ea = 31 kJ·mol-1, typical for local mobility. The weak β-relaxation, observed in the glassy state as well as in the supercooled state was identified as the genuine Johari-Goldstein process. The temperature dependence of the relaxation time of the α-process (dynamic glass transition) does not obey a single VFTH law. Instead two VFTH regimes are observed separated by a crossover temperature, TB = 265 K. From the low temperature VFTH regime, a Tgdiel(t =100 s) = 226 K was estimated, and a fragility or steepness index m = 93, was calculated showing that ibuprofen is a fragile glass former. The D-process has a Debye-like relaxation function but the temperature dependence of relaxation time also follows the VFTH behavior, with a Vogel temperature and a pre-exponential factor which seem to indicate that its dynamics is governed by the α-process. It has similar features as the Debye-type process observed in a variety of associating liquids, related to hydrogen bonding dynamics. The strong tendency of ibuprofen to form hydrogen bonded aggregates such as dimers and trimers either cyclic or linear which seems to control in particular the molecular mobility of ibuprofen was confirmed by IR spectroscopy, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, and MD simulations. PY - 2008 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/jp8040428 SN - 1520-6106 SN - 1520-5207 SN - 1089-5647 VL - 112 IS - 35 SP - 11087 EP - 11099 PB - Soc. CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-17866 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brás, A.R. A1 - Merino, E.G. A1 - Neves, P.D. A1 - Fonseca, I.M. A1 - Dionísio, M. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas A1 - Correia, N.T. T1 - Amorphous ibuprofen confined in nanostructured silica materials: a dynamical approach N2 - The molecular mobility of condensed matter confined to nanometer dimensions can be dramatically changed from those of the bulk state in such a way that, when the guest is a drug, it can be advantageously used in pharmaceutical applications. We show by dielectric relaxation spectroscopy that the molecular mobility of the important ibuprofen drug embedded in nanoporous SBA-15 is significantly influenced by the confinement. An evidence of the existence of two families of molecules with different molecular mobilities is provided and investigated in their temperature dependence. One family is due to molecules close to the pores' center with a higher mobility compared with the bulk at low temperatures, and another family with slower dynamics originated from molecules interacting with the pore walls. The work reports the simultaneous manifestation of true confinement and surface effects in this nanostructured silica host for a drug. For future applications in drug delivery systems, the dynamics determined by the guest–host interplay and the one of the bulklike molecules can be tuned to achieve a desired release profile. PY - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/jp107631m SN - 1932-7447 SN - 1089-5639 VL - 115 IS - 11 SP - 4616 EP - 4623 PB - Soc. CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-23518 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brás, A.R. A1 - Fonseca, I.M. A1 - Dionísio, M. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas A1 - Affouard, F. A1 - Correia, N.T. T1 - Influence of nanoscale confinement on the molecular mobility of ibuprofen N2 - The molecular mobility of ibuprofen confined to a mesoporous silica host (MCM-41) of 3.6 nm pore diameter is investigated by dielectric relaxation spectroscopy. It is confirmed that crystallization is suppressed; therefore, depending on the temperature, the guest exists in the glassy and supercooled state inside of the pores. A detailed relaxation map is provided where multiple processes are dynamically characterized, comprised of three processes that are also found for the bulk and two additional ones. The bulk-like processes include two secondary processes, a simple thermally activated one, a γ process and a Johari–Goldstein βJG process, and the one associated with the dynamic glass transition of molecules located in the pore center (α process). In confinement, all of these processes display deviations in its dynamical behavior relative to the bulk, the most dramatic one undergone by the α process, which exhibits Arrhenius-like temperature dependence upon approaching the glass transition instead of Vogel/Fulcher/Tammann/Hesse (VFTH) scaling as obeyed by the bulk. The two additional relaxations are associated with the dynamical behavior of hydrogen-bonded ibuprofen molecules lying in an interfacial layer near the pore wall, an S process for which the mobility is strongly reduced relative to the α process and a Debye-like D process for which the dynamics is closely correlated to the dynamics of the interfacial process, both exhibiting VFTH temperature dependencies. The comparison with the behavior of the same guest in the analogous host, SBA-15, with a higher pore diameter (8.6 nm) leads to the conclusion that the bulk-like mobility associated with the dynamic glass transition undergoes finite size effects being accelerated upon a decrease of the pore size with a concomitant reduction of the glass transition temperature relative to the bulk, 22 and 32 K, respectively, for the 8.6 and 3.6 nm pore diameters. The continuous decrease in the separation between the α- and βJG-trace with pore size decrease allows one to conclude that confined ibuprofen is a suitable guest molecule to test the Coupling Model that predicts a transformation of the α process into a βJG-mode under conditions of an extreme nanoconfinement. The overall behavior inside of pores is consistent with the existence of two distinct dynamical domains, originated by ibuprofen molecules in the core of the pore cavity and adjacent to the pore wall, from which a clear picture is given by molecular dynamics simulation. PY - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/jp500630m SN - 1932-7447 SN - 1089-5639 VL - 118 IS - 25 SP - 13857 EP - 13868 PB - Soc. CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-31170 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Dionisio, M. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas A1 - Bras, A. A1 - Santos, G.B. A1 - Costa, A. A1 - Viciosa, T.M. A1 - Affouard, F. A1 - Correia, N.T. T1 - Nanoconfinement effects on ibuprofen based guests in mesoporous silica matrices T2 - CONFERENCE AMPTEC 2014 Advanced Materials and Pharmaceutical Technologies CY - Villeneuve d'Ascq, France DA - 2014-07-09 PY - 2014 AN - OPUS4-31055 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brás, A.R. A1 - Frunza, S. A1 - Guerreiro, L. A1 - Fonseca, I.M. A1 - Corma, A. A1 - Frunza, L. A1 - Dionísio, M. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Molecular mobility of nematic E7 confined to molecular sieves with a low filling degree N2 - The nematic liquid crystalline mixture E7 was confined with similar filling degrees to molecular sieves with constant composition but different pore diameters (from 2.8 to 6.8 nm). Fourier transform infrared analysis proved that the E7 molecules interact via the cyanogroup with the pore walls of the molecular sieves. The molecular dynamics of the system was investigated by broadband dielectric spectroscopy (10-2-109 Hz) covering a wide temperature range of ~ 200 K from temperatures well above the isotropic-nematic transition down to the glass transition of bulk E7. A variety of relaxation processes is observed including two modes that are located close to the bulk behavior in its temperature dependence. For all confined samples, two relaxation processes, at frequencies lower than the processes observed for the bulk, were detected. At lower temperatures, their relaxation rates have different temperature dependencies whereas at higher temperatures, they seem to collapse into one chart. The temperature dependence of the slowest process (S-process) obeys the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann law indicating a glassy dynamics of the E7 molecules anchored to the pore surface. The pore size dependence of both the Vogel temperature and fragility revealed a steplike transition around 4 nm pore size, which indicates a transition from a strong to a fragile behavior. The process with a relaxation rate in between the bulklike and the S-process (I-process) shows no dependence on the pore size. The agreement of the I-process with the behavior of a 5CB surface layer adsorbed on nonporous silica leads to the assignment of E7 molecules anchored at the outer surface of the microcrystals of the molecular sieves. KW - Adsorption KW - Fourier transform spectra KW - Glass transition KW - infrared spectra KW - Molecular sieves KW - Nematic liquid crystals KW - Organic compounds KW - Porous materials PY - 2010 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3432775 SN - 0021-9606 SN - 1089-7690 VL - 132 SP - 224508-1 - 224508-12 PB - American Institute of Physics CY - Melville, NY AN - OPUS4-21510 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -