Penetration of surface effects on structural relaxation and particle hops in glassy films
A free surface induces enhanced dynamics in glass formers. We study the dynamical enhancement of glassy films with a distinguishable-particle lattice model of glass free of elastic effects. We demonstrate that the thickness of the surface mobile layer depends on temperature differently under different definitions, although all are based on local structure relaxation rate. The rate can be fitted to a double exponential form with an exponential-of-power-law tail. Our approach and results exclude elasticity as the unique mechanism for the tail. Layer-resolved particle hopping rate, potentially a key measure for activated hopping, is also studied but it exhibits much shallower surface effects.
Authors
- Xin-Yuan Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0608-9029)
- Qiang Zhai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0307-5326)
- Ke Yan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5264-9587)
- Sen Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3802-8020)
- Hai-Yao Deng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6065-483X)
- Chi‐Hang Lam (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0476-1857)
- Leo S. I. Lam (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-8728-3758)
Institutions
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK)
- Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK)
- Cardiff University (GB)
- Xi'an Jiaotong University (CN)
- Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (NL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Journal of Chemical Physics
- Published
- 2025-06-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0271966
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Material Dynamics and Properties
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.52
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province
- Central University Basic Research Fund of China
- Postdoctoral Research Foundation of China