title: Crystallization behaviors of n-nonadecane in confined space: observation of metastable phase induced by surface freezing.
abstract: Crystallization and phase transition behaviors of n-nonadecane in microcapsules with a diameter of about 5 mum were studied with the combination of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction (XRD). As evident from the DSC measurement, a surface freezing monolayer, which is formed in the microcapsules before the bulk crystallization, induces a novel metastable rotator phase (R(II)), which has not been reported anywhere else. We argue that the existence of the surface freezing monolayer decreases the nucleating potential barrier of the R(II) phase and induces its appearance, while the lower free energy in the confined geometry turns the transient R(II) phase to a "long-lived" metastable phase.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Engineering Plastics, Joint Laboratory of Polymer Science and Materials, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China.
authors.forename: Baoquan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Haifeng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Shichun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Charles C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Duanfu
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Dujin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang