Studying the vibrational dynamics of glycerol confined in graphene oxide membrane

Atomic vibrations play a vital role in the functions of various physical, chemical, and biological materials. The vibrational properties and the specific heat of a bulk material are well described by the Debye theory, which predicts the quadratic w^2 low-frequency scaling of the vibrational density of states (VDOS) in bulk solids from few fundamental assumptions. However, the corresponding relationships for nanoconfined materials with fewer degrees of freedom, have been far less well explored. A direct consequence of non-Debye scaling law is a shift of the acoustic modes towards a different frequency. Learning how graphene oxide membrane (GOM) modifies the vibrational dynamics of glass formers, is of utmost significance to understand and optimize the phonon-assisted transportation of energy, electron or proton in electronic devices and biological systems of nano-meter confinement.