A molecular view of vapor deposited glasses

Recently, novel organic glassy materials that exhibit remarkable stability have been prepared by vapor deposition. The thermophysical properties of these new "stable" glasses are equivalent to those that common glasses would exhibit after aging over periods lasting thousands of years. The origin of such enhanced stability has been elusive; in the absence of detailed models, past studies have discussed the formation of new polyamorphs or that of nanocrystals to explain the observed behavior. In this work, an atomistic molecular model of trehalose, a disaccharide of glucose, is used to examine the properties of vapor-deposited stable glasses. Consistent with experiment, the model predicts the formation of stable glasses having a higher density, a lower enthalpy, and higher onset temperatures than those of the corresponding "ordinary" glass formed by quenching the bulk liquid. Simulations reveal that newly formed layers of the growing vapor-deposited film exhibit greater mobility than the remainder of the material, thereby enabling a reorganization of the film as it is grown. They also reveal that "stable" glasses exhibit a distinct layered structure in the direction normal to the substrate that is responsible for their unusual properties.