The relaxation kinetics and phase transformations of the confined D-mannitol (DM) in nanoporous alumina are studied in-situ using a high-precision nano-calorimeter. We find that the crystallization behavior can be suppressed when it is confined in nanopores smaller than 50 nm. The confined DM glass has a much smaller fragility (~76) than free DM glass (~125), confirming the enhanced glass-forming ability. It is intriguing that during isothermal annealing both the confined and free DM glasses relaxation kinetics experience two relaxation stages that have distinct activation energies. The relaxation activation energy of the confined glass is about 25%-29% smaller than the free glass, which is attributed to the reduced dimensionality. The abnormal kinetics observed in the confined DM glass open a new avenue for preparing stable glasses.

中文翻译：

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纳米多孔氧化铝限制D-甘露醇玻璃的异常弛豫动力学

对纳米多孔氧化铝中受限的D-甘露醇（DM）的弛豫动力学和相变进行了原位研究使用高精度的纳米量热仪。我们发现，将结晶行为限制在小于50 nm的纳米孔中时，其结晶行为可以得到抑制。受限的DM玻璃的脆性（〜76）比游离的DM玻璃（〜125）小得多，证实了增强的玻璃形成能力。有趣的是，在等温退火过程中，受限和自由DM玻璃的弛豫动力学都经历了两个具有不同活化能的弛豫阶段。受限玻璃的松弛活化能比自由玻璃小约25％-29％，这归因于尺寸的减小。在密闭DM玻璃中观察到的异常动力学为制备稳定的玻璃开辟了一条新途径。