Bioprotectant glassforming solutions confined in porous silicon nanocapillaries

TL;DR

This study investigates how confining bioprotectant solutions like glycerol and trehalose-glycerol in 8 nm porous silicon channels affects their molecular structure and dynamics, revealing nanoconfinement's impact on glass-forming liquids.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the effects of nanoconfinement and trehalose addition on the structure and dynamics of bioprotectant solutions using neutron scattering techniques.

Findings

Nanoconfinement alters molecular dynamics of the solutions.

Trehalose influences intermolecular structure under confinement.

Distinct effects observed between liquid and glassy phases.

Abstract

Glycerol and trehalose-glycerol binary solutions are glass-forming liquids with remarkable bioprotectant properties. In this paper, we address the effects of confining of these solutions in straight channels of diameter D=8 nm formed by porous silicon. Neutron diffraction and incoherent quasielastic neutron scattering are used to reveal the different effects of nanoconfinement and addition of trehalose on the intermolecular structure and molecular dynamics of the liquid and glassy phases, on a nanosecond timescale.