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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 88 » Issue 24
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 245505 (2002) [4 pages]

A Beaker without Walls: Formation of Deeply Supercooled Binary Liquid Solutions of Alcohols from Nanoscale Amorphous Solid Films

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Patrick Ayotte, R. Scott Smith, Glenn Teeter, Zdenek Dohnálek, Gregory A. Kimmel, and Bruce D. Kay*
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, P.O. Box 999, Mail Stop K8-88, Richland, Washington 99352

Received 27 November 2001; published 3 June 2002

See accompanying Physics Focus

Layered nanoscale amorphous solid films of methanol and ethanol undergo complete intermixing prior to the onset of measurable desorption at 120K. This intermixing precedes and inhibits crystallization. Subsequent desorption of the film is described quantitatively by a kinetic model describing evaporation from a continuously mixed ideal binary liquid solution. This occurs at temperatures below the melting point of the binary mixture, indicating ideal behavior for the supercooled liquid solution. This approach provides a new method for preparing and examining deeply supercooled solutions.

© 2002 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.245505
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.245505
PACS:
61.25.Em, 66.30.Pa, 68.15.+e, 82.60.Lf

*Corresponding author.

 
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