Exploration of solvent ordering in liquid and glassy di-methylsulphoxide (DMSO) solutions.

Nanoparticle dispersions in liquids have many technical applications, including embedding active nanoparticles in coatings and functional membranes. Carbon nitride materials with polymeric or graphitic structures are one group or materials that form such dispersions easily and there is, accordingly, interest in understanding the underlying factors that govern the carbon nitride solubility and solution properties. Preliminary studies have shown that there are dramatic changes in the structure of dimethyl-sulfoxide (DMSO) as the graphitic carbon nitride, polytriazine imide (PTI) is added, with solvent ordering that persists to radial distances in excess of 15 Angstroms. In this proposal we will use neutron diffraction with isotopic substitution to study solutions of PTI in DMSO to evaluate solvent ordering as a function of concentration, temperature, and solvent composition.

液体中的纳米颗粒分散液拥有诸多技术应用场景，包括将活性纳米颗粒嵌入涂层及功能膜中。具有聚合或石墨型结构的氮化碳材料是一类易于形成此类分散液的材料，因此学界对阐明调控氮化碳溶解性与溶液性质的内在机制存在广泛兴趣。前期研究显示，当向体系中加入石墨型氮化碳——聚三嗪亚胺（polytriazine imide, PTI）时，二甲基亚砜（dimethyl-sulfoxide, DMSO）的结构会发生显著变化，其溶剂有序化区域的径向距离可超过15埃（Angstroms）。在本研究计划中，我们将采用同位素替代中子衍射技术，对二甲基亚砜中的聚三嗪亚胺溶液展开研究，以评估溶剂有序化程度随浓度、温度及溶剂组成的变化规律。