Self-diffusion of poly(propylene glycol) in nanoporous glasses studied by pulsed field gradient NMR: A study of molecular dynamics and surface interactions.

Pulsed field gradient NMR is applied to investigate the self-diffusion of poly(proypylene glycol) in nanoporous glasses (nominal pore sizes of 2.5-7.5 nm). In general, the diffusion is slowed down by the confinement compared to the bulk. For native pore surfaces covered by hydroxyl groups the spin echo attenuation Ψ displays a bimodal behavior versus q(2)t (q-norm of a generalized scattering vector). This was explained assuming spatial regions of different diffusivities in a two-phase model. The slow component is assigned to segments forming a surface layer close to the pore walls in which the segments have a lower mobility than those located in the center of the pores. By variation of observation time it was concluded that time constant for the dynamic exchange of segments between these two regions is around 100 ms at room temperature. For silanized pores, the bimodal behavior in the spin echo attenuation Ψ shows a stretched exponential decay versus q(2)t. The estimated diffusion coefficients decrease strongly with decreasing pore size. The temperature dependence of the diffusion coefficient can be approximated by an Arrhenius law where the activation energy increases with decreasing pore size. The observed pore size dependence for the diffusion of poly(propylene glycol) in silanized nanoporous glasses can be discussed assuming interaction and confining size effects.

Collective dynamics and self-diffusion in a diblock copolymer melt in the body-centered cubic phase.

The structure and dynamics of a strongly asymmetric poly(ethylene propylene)-poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PEP-PDMS) diblock copolymer in the melt have been studied over a wide temperature range. Small-angle neutron scattering reveals that the sample exhibits two stable phases in this temperature range: Above the order-to-disorder transition temperature, it is disordered, whereas the domain structure is body-centered cubic (bcc) below, being stable down to the lowest temperatures measured. In the disordered state, dynamic light scattering (DLS) in the polarized geometry reveals the heterogeneity mode and the cluster mode. In the bcc phase, the PEP and the PDMS blocks form the micellar cores and the matrix, respectively. Here, two modes are observed in DLS, and the diffusion coefficients measured using pulsed field gradient (PFG) NMR are broadly distributed with the most probable diffusion coefficient coinciding with the slow DLS mode. We attribute the fast process in the bcc state to concentration fluctuations of the micellar cores (PEP), relaxing by mutual diffusion of the micelles with copolymers dissolved in the PDMS matrix. The slower process in the bcc state is ascribed to activated long-range self-diffusion of single copolymers from micelle to micelle through the PDMS matrix. This assignment is corroborated by the good coincidence of the reduced diffusivities with the ones from the literature. However, this mode may also be assigned to the rearrangement of entire micelles.