Molecular probe dynamics and free volume in organic glass-formers and their relationships to structural relaxation: 1-propanol.

A joint study of the rotational dynamics and free volume in amorphous 1-propanol (1-PrOH) as a prototypical monohydroxy alcohol by electron spin resonance (ESR) or positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS), respectively, is reported. The dynamic parameters of the molecular spin probe 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy (TEMPO) and the annihilation ones of the atomic ortho-positronium (o-Ps) probe as a function of temperature are compared. A number of coincidences between various effects in the ESR and PALS responses at the corresponding characteristic ESR and PALS temperatures were found suggesting a common origin of the underlying dynamic processes that were identified using viscosity (VISC) in terms of the two-order parameter (TOP) model and broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) data.