Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol.106, No.42, 10884-10894, 2002
Neutron scattering study and dynamic properties of hydrogen-bonded liquids in mesoscopic confinement. 1. The water case
In the present work we report a detailed spectroscopic analysis of diffusive relaxation and vibrational properties of water in bulk and confined in nanopores of Gelsil glass, at different temperatures and different hydration percentages, performed by incoherent quasi-elastic and inelastic neutron scattering, IQENS and IINS, respectively. IQENS spectra are analyzed in the framework of two different models: the confined diffusion model (CDM) and the relaxing cage model (RCM). The first one is based on the well-known random jump diffusion model for confined diffusion; the second one takes into account the alpha-relaxation dynamics predicted by mode coupling theory (MCT) of supercooled liquids. Finally, the analysis of IINS spectra has been addressed to the comprehension of the evolution of the one-phonon-amplitude weighted proton vibrational density of states (VDOS), Z(omega), when the water loses its peculiar bulk properties and originates a new structural environment due to its surface interaction.