Broadband terahertz dynamics of propylene glycol monomer and oligomers

Abstract

We investigated the broadband terahertz spectra (0.1–5.0 THz) of glass-forming liquids, propylene glycol (PG), its oligomers poly (propylene glycol)s (PPGs), and poly (propylene glycol) diglycidyl ether (PPG-de) using broadband terahertz time-domain spectroscopy and low-frequency Raman scattering. The numerical value of the dielectric loss at around 1.5 THz, which is the peak position of broad peaks in all samples, decreased as the molecular weight increased. Furthermore, the peak at around 1.5 THz is insensitive to the molecular weight. For PPGs, the side chain effect of the oligomer was observed in the terahertz region. Based on the experimental and calculation results for the PPGs and PPG-de, whose end groups are epoxy groups, the beginnings of the increases in the observed dielectric loss above 3.5 THz of the PPGs are assigned to the OH bending vibration. The higher value of the dielectric loss in the terahertz region for the PPG-de can be the tail of a broad peak located in the MHz region. The difference between the Raman susceptibility and dielectric loss reflects the difference in the observable molecular dynamics between the infrared and Raman spectroscopies.