Using Rare Gas Permeation to Probe Methanol Diffusion near the Glass Transition Temperature

The permeation of rare-gas atoms through deeply supercooled metastable liquid methanol films is used to probe the diffusivity. The technique allows for measurement of supercooled liquid mobility at temperatures near the glass transition. The temperature dependence of the diffusivity is well described by a Vogel-Fulcher-Tamman equation. These new measurements and the temperature dependent kinetic parameters obtained from their analysis provide clear evidence that methanol is a fragile liquid near the glass transition.