Inelastic light scattering study of hydrogen-bonded glass formers: Glycerol and ethanol

Abstract Temperature dependences of the structural relaxation time τ α ( T ) of two hydrogen-bonded glass formers, glycerol and ethanol, were investigated by depolarized light scattering technique. τ α ( T ) of glycerol demonstrates a transition from the Arrhenius law at high temperatures to a non-Arrhenius behavior at T A  ~ 366 K. Combination of derivative analysis results for τ α ( T ) from light scattering and dielectric spectroscopes reveals this transition near ~ 200 K in the case of ethanol. The obtained values of T A are close to the temperatures below which the excess of the Landau-Placzek ratio, associated with the appearance of locally favored structures, was observed earlier.