Phase diagram of water between hydrophobic surfaces

Molecular dynamics simulations demonstrate that there are at least two classes of quasi-two-dimensional solid water into which liquid water confined between hydrophobic surfaces freezes spontaneously and whose hydrogen-bond networks are as fully connected as those of bulk ice. One of them is the monolayer ice and the other is the bilayer solid which takes either a crystalline or an amorphous form. Here we present the phase transformations among liquid, bilayer amorphous (or crystalline) ice, and monolayer ice phases at various thermodynamic conditions, then determine curves of melting, freezing, and solid-solid structural change on the isostress planes where temperature and intersurface distance are variable, and finally we propose a phase diagram of the confined water in the temperature-pressure-distance space.     

Electrofreezing of confined water

We report results from molecular dynamics simulations of the freezing transition of TIP5P water molecules confined between two parallel plates under the influence of a homogeneous external electric field, with magnitude of 5 V/nm, along the lateral direction. For water confined to a thickness of a trilayer we find two different phases of ice at a temperature of T=280 K. The transformation between the two, proton-ordered, ice phases is found to be a strong first-order transition. The low-density ice phase is built from hexagonal rings parallel to the confining walls and corresponds to the structure of cubic ice. The high-density ice phase has an in-plane rhombic symmetry of the oxygen atoms and larger distortion of hydrogen bond angles. The short-range order of the two ice phases is the same as the local structure of the two bilayer phases of liquid water found recently in the absence of an electric field [J. Chem. Phys. 119, 1694 (2003)]. These high- and low-density phases of water differ in local ordering at the level of the second shell of nearest neighbors. The results reported in this paper, show a close similarity between the local structure of the liquid phase and the short-range order of the corresponding solid phase. This similarity might be enhanced in water due to the deep attractive well characterizing hydrogen bond interactions. We also investigate the low-density ice phase confined to a thickness of 4, 5, and 8 molecular layers under the influence of an electric field at T=300 K. In general, we find that the degree of ordering decreases as the distance between the two confining walls increases.     

Shear dynamics of hydration layers

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been performed to investigate the shear dynamics of hydration layers of the thickness of D=0.61-2.44 nm confined between two mica surfaces. Emphases are placed on the external shear response and internal relaxation properties of aqueous films. For D=0.92-2.44 nm liquid phase, the shear responses are fluidic and similar to those observed in surface force balance experiments [U. Raviv and J. Klein, Science 297, 1540 (2002)]. However, for the bilayer ice (D=0.61 nm) [Y. S. Leng and P. T. Cummings, J. Chem. Phys. 124, 74711 (2006)] significant shear enhancement and shear thinning over a wide range of shear rates in MD regime are observed. The rotational relaxation time of water molecules in this bilayer ice is found to be as high as 0.017 ms (10(-5) s). Extrapolating the shear rate to the inverse of this longest relaxation time, we obtain a very high shear viscosity for the bilayer ice, which is also observed quite recently for D< or =0.6+/-0.3 nm hydration layers [H. Sakuma et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 46104 (2006)]. We further investigate the boundary slip of water molecules and hydrated K(+) ions and concluded that no-slip boundary condition should hold for aqueous salt solution under extreme confinement between hydrophilic mica surfaces, provided that the confined film is of Newtonian fluid.     

Hydration structure of water confined between mica surfaces

We report further molecular dynamics simulations on the structure of bound hydration layers under extreme confinement between mica surfaces. We find that the liquid phase of water is maintained down to 2 monolayer (ML) thick, whereas the structure of the K(+) ion hydration shell is close to the bulk structure even under D = 0.92 nm confinement. Unexpectedly, the density of confined water remains approximately the bulk value or less, whereas the diffusion of water molecules decreases dramatically. Further increase in confinement leads to a transition to a bilayer ice, whose density is much less than that of ice Ih due to the formation of a specific hydrogen-bonding network.     

Magnetic freezing of confined water

We report results from molecular dynamic simulations of the freezing transition of liquid water in the nanoscale hydrophobic confinement under the influence of a homogeneous external magnetic field of 10 T along the direction perpendicular to the parallel plates. A new phase of bilayer crystalline ice is obtained at an anomalously high freezing temperature of 340 K. The water-to-ice translation is found to be first order. The bilayer ice is built from alternating rows of hexagonal rings and rhombic rings parallel to the confining plates, with a large distortion of the hydrogen bonds. We also investigate the temperature shifts of the freezing transition due to the magnetic field. The freezing temperature, below which the freezing of confined water occurs, shifts to a higher value as the magnetic field enhances. Furthermore, the temperature of the freezing transition of confined water is proportional to the denary logarithm of the external magnetic field.     

限制在疏水板中的新的六边形-四边形三层冰结构

对限制在两个光滑的疏水板间的水进行了分子动力学模拟,观察到了两种晶体结构,都满足冰规则．在1GPa的压强和1．0nm的板间距下获得的新的冰相是平坦的六边形-四边形三层冰．在此结构中,靠近板的两层（外层）中的水分子形成六边形环,中间层的水分子形成四边形环．对于外层的水分子,其四个氢键中的三个在同一层中,另一个氢键与中间层连接．对于中间层的水分子,四个氢键中的两个在同。层中,而另外两个氢键与两个不同的外层相连．虽然三层的形状不同,但其面密度却接近相等．另一种结构是在0．8nm的板问距和100MPa的侧向压下获得的平坦的六边形双层冰．模拟中的相变既有一阶相变,也有连续相变．     

Formation of ice-like water structure on the surface of an antifreeze protein

Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) are found in different species from polar, alpine, and subarctic regions where they serve to inhibit ice crystal growth by adsorption to ice surfaces. Computational methods have the power to investigate the antifreeze mechanism in atomic detail. Molecular dynamics simulations of water under different conditions have been carried out to test our water model for simulations of biological macromolecules in extreme conditions: very low temperatures (200 K) and at the ice/liquid water interface. We show that the flexible F3C water model reproduces properties of water in the solid phase (ice I(h)), the supercooled liquid phase, and at the ice/liquid water interface. Additionally, the hydration of the type III AFP from ocean pout was studied as a function of temperature. Hydration waters on the ice-binding surface of the AFP were less distorted and more tetrahedral than elsewhere on the surface. More ice-like hydrating water structures formed on the ice-binding surface of the protein such that it created an ice-like structure in water within its first hydration layer but not beyond, suggesting that this portion of the protein has high affinity for ice surfaces.     

Formation of high density amorphous ice by decompression of ice VII and ice VIII at 135 K

Monte Carlo computer simulations of ice VII and ice VIII phases have been undertaken using the four-point transferable intermolecular potential model of water. By following thermodynamic paths similar to those used experimentally, ice is decompressed resulting in an amorphous phase. These phases are compared to the high density amorphous phase formed upon compression of ice Ih and are found to have very similar structures. By cooling liquid water along the water/Ih melting line a high density amorphous phase was also generated.     

Phase transition of nanotube-confined water driven by electric field

The effects of electric field on the phase behaviors of water encapsulated in a thick single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) (diameter = 1.2 nm) have been studied by performing extensive molecular dynamics simulations at atmospheric pressure. We found that liquid water can freeze continuously into either pentagonal or helical solidlike ice nanotube in SWCNT, depending on the strengths of the external electric field applied along the tube axis. Remarkably, the helical one is new ice phase which was not observed previously in the same size of SWCNT in the absence of electric field. Furthermore, a discontinuous solid-solid phase transition is observed between pentagonal and helical ice nanotubes as the strengths of the external electric field changes. The mechanism of electric-field-induced phase transition is discussed. The dependence of ice structures on the chiralities of SWCNTs is also investigated. Finally, we present a phase diagram of confined water in the electric field-temperature plane.     

Two-dimensional water and ice layers: neutron diffraction studies at 278, 263, and 20 k

Neutron diffraction elucidates the structures of two-dimensional (2D) water layers (278 K) or 2D ice layers confined in an organic slit-shaped nanospace. The two-dimensional ice phases reported here consist of individual eight-membered rings or folded-chain segments (263 K) and condensed twelve-membered irregular rings (20 K). This is quite different from bulk or other 2D ice structures; the latter usually form hexagonal honeycomb lattices. Both low-temperature structures typically feature water molecules which are surrounded by two or three other water molecules. Neutron diffraction and thermochemical studies indicate a liquid-solid-phase transition around 277 K for two-dimensional D2O layers. A further solid-solid-phase transition occurs between 263 and 20 K.     

Four phases of amorphous water: Simulations versus experiment

Multiplicity of the liquid-liquid phase transitions in supercooled water, first obtained in computer simulations [Brovchenko et al., J. Chem. Phys. 118, 9473 (2003)], has got strong support from the recent experimental observation of the two phase transitions between amorphous ices [Loerting et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 025702 (2006)]. These experimental results allow assignment of the four amorphous water phases (I-IV) obtained in simulations to the three kinds of amorphous ices. Water phase I (rho approximately 0.90 gcm(3)) corresponds to the low-density amorphous ice, phase III (rho approximately 1.10 gcm(3)) to the high-density amorphous ice, and phase IV (rho approximately 1.20 gcm(3)) to the very-high-density amorphous ice. Phase II of model water with density rho approximately 1.00 gcm(3) corresponds to the normal-density water. Such assignment is confirmed by the comparison of the structural functions of the amorphous phases of model water and real water. In phases I and II the first and second coordination shells are clearly divided. Phase I consists mainly of the four coordinated tetrahedrally ordered water molecules. Phase II is enriched with molecules, which have tetrahedrally ordered four nearest neighbors and up six molecules in the first coordination shell. Majority of the molecules in phase III still have tetrahedrally ordered four nearest neighbors. Transition from phase III to phase IV is characterized by a noticeable drop of tetrahedral order, and phase IV consists mainly of molecules with highly isotropic angular distribution of the nearest neighbors. Relation between the structures of amorphous water phases, crystalline ices, and liquid water is discussed.     

Phase behavior of concentrated aqueous solutions of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and sodium hydroxy naphthoate (SHN)

We have characterized the phase behavior of mixtures of the cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and the organic salt 3-sodium-2-hydroxy naphthoate (SHN) over a wide range of surfactant concentrations using polarizing optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction. A variety of liquid crystalline phases, such as hexagonal, lamellar with and without curvature defects, and nematic, are observed in these mixtures. At high temperatures the curvature defects in the lamellar phase are annealed gradually on decreasing the water content. However, at lower temperatures these two lamellar structures are separated by an intermediate phase, where the bilayer defects appear to order into a lattice. The ternary phase diagram shows a high degree of symmetry about the line corresponding to equimolar CTAB/SHN composition, as in the case of mixtures of cationic and anionic surfactants.     

Several types of bilayer smectic liquid crystals with ferroelectric and antiferroelectric properties in binary mixture of dimeric compounds

The mesomorphic behavior and phase structure were examined in the mixture of two kinds of dimeric compounds, alpha,omega-bis(4-alkoxyanilinebenzylidene-4'-carbonyloxy)pentane (mOAM5AMOm), by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, polarization switching, and second-harmonic generation measurements. One compound is 4OAM5AMO4 with a short terminal alkyl chain that forms a single-layer smectic phase (SmCAs) with a random mixing of spacer and tail groups. Another compound is 16OAM5AMO16 with a long terminal alkyl chain that forms a chiral, anticlinic, and antiferroelectric bilayer phase (SmCAb) with the bent molecules tilted to the bilayer. By mixing these two compounds, the SmCAs phase of 4OAM5AMO4 is easily destabilized, leading to the wide content region of the bilayer phases. In the bilayer regime, three other smectic phases are newly induced. Two of them are antiferroelectric and ferroelectric phases in which the molecules lie perpendicularly with respect to the layer. The other shows no polar response to an external electric field and behaves like a smectic A. The new appearance of these bilayer phases is discussed as a mixing effect of long and short tail groups.     

Effect of Nanoscale Confinement on Freezing of Modified Water at Room Temperature and Ambient Pressure

Understanding the phase behavior of confined water is central to fields as diverse as heterogeneous catalysis, corrosion, nanofluidics, and to emerging energy technologies. Altering the state points (temperature, pressure, etc.) or introduction of a foreign surface can result in the phase transformation of water. At room temperature, ice nucleation is a very rare event and extremely high pressures in the GPa–TPa range are required to freeze water. Here, we perform computer experiments to artificially alter the balance between electrostatic and dispersion interactions between water molecules, and demonstrate nucleation and growth of ice at room temperature in a nanoconfined environment. Local perturbations in dispersive and electrostatic interactions near the surface are shown to provide the seed for nucleation (nucleation sites), which lead to room temperature liquid–solid phase transition of confined water. Crystallization of water occurs over several tens of nanometers and is shown to be independent of the nature of the substrate (hydrophilic oxide vs. hydrophobic graphene and crystalline oxide vs. amorphous diamond‐like carbon). Our results lead us to hypothesize that the freezing transition of confined water can be controlled by tuning the relative dispersive and electrostatic interaction.     

Unraveling the properties of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane under nanoscale confinement: atomistic view of the liquidlike state from molecular dynamics simulation

We developed an atomistic model of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (OMCTS) liquid confined within the nanospace between two flat mica surfaces. Molecular dynamics simulation was carried out for the liquidlike state where OMCTS liquid is not frozen, while forming molecular layers parallel to the surface. With the aid of a layer by layer analysis of the intra- and interlayer microscopic structures and the dynamics, it is found that the difference in the properties of the inner layers and the bulk liquid are relatively small in spite of the clear differences in the structure. This leads to the conclusion that the layered structure itself is an appearance of the microscopic structure that already exists in the bulk liquid. The most striking difference from the bulk liquid is mainly seen in the contact layer, where characteristic molecular orientations that are not seen in the crystalline phase appeared, and the dynamics of the liquid becomes 2-3 orders of magnitude slower than that of the bulk.     

Protonation-induced structural change of lyotropic liquid crystals in oley- and alkyldimethylamine oxides/water systems

Lyotropic phase behavior of the nonionic and the half-ionized oleyldimethylamine oxide (OlDMAO)/water systems was investigated using polarized light microscopy, small-angle X-ray diffraction, and differential scanning calorimetry. Nonionic OlDMAO formed isotropic micellar solution, nematic, hexagonal, cubic, and lamellar liquid crystalline phases as the surfactant concentration increased. In contrast, half-ionized OlDMAO (i.e., 1:1 mixture of the nonionic and the protonated species) had a greater tendency to form bilayer structures, and the phase diagram became quite similar to those of double-chained ionic surfactants rather than single-chained ones, despite the introduction of positive charges to the nonionic one. The preference of the bilayer structures in the half-ionized OlDMAO was interpreted in terms of the dimers stabilized by the hydrogen bond between the nonionic and protonated species. For alkyldimethylamine oxides with a saturated hydrocarbon chain (CnDMAO, chain length: n = 14, 16, and 18), the phase sequence of lyotropic liquid crystals was hardly affected by the protonation, but an elongation of the cylinders of the hexagonal phase was observed for the half-ionized C14DMAO. Consequently, it can be considered that the dominant bilayer formation of the half-ionized OlDMAO is attributed to the combined effect of the hydrogen-bonded dimer formation and the cis-double-bond configuration of the alkyl chain.     

Orientational orders of small anisotropic molecules confined in slit pores

Based on a constant-pressure Monte Carlo molecular simulation, we have studied orientationally ordered transitions of small anisotropic molecules confined in two parallel hard walls. These molecules are modeled by the hard Gaussian overlap model. The molecular elongations of the chosen molecules are so small that the molecules cannot form stable liquid-crystal (LC) phases in the bulk. But in the slit pores, we found, while the distance between two walls of the pores decreases to the molecular scale, an orientationally ordered phase can form. It shows that even hard confining surfaces favor the alignment of the small anisotropic molecules. Thus we conclude that the required molecular elongation for forming LC phases will decrease in confinement. Our results indicate that some non-LC small molecules may form stable LC phases due to the inducement of confining surfaces.     

Morphology of optically anisotropic agarose hydrogel prepared by directional freezing

Agarose hydrogels which showed optical anisotropy were obtained by the directional freezing of starting isotropic gels under a temperature gradient. The directional freezing caused a crystallization of many isolated ice crystal phases, leaving a honeycomb-like gel phase with a higher polymer content. The crystallographic c-axis of the ice crystals was directed to the temperature gradient. X-ray and optical analyses showed that agarose chains had a strong planar orientation along the walls'side surfaces, which were parallel to the equatorial planes of the ice crystals.Scanning electron microscopy showed that the wall consisted of a large number of sheets stacked along the wall thickness; in each sheet, agarose fibrillar structures were found to be densely aligned. With the application of repeated freezing and thawing, the anisotropy of the segregated gel phases increased.     

Adsorption study of acetone on acid-doped ice surfaces between 203 and 233 K

Adsorption studies of acetone on pure ice surfaces obtained by water freezing or deposition or on frozen ice surfaces doped either with HNO3 or H2SO4 have been performed using a coated wall flow tube coupled to a mass spectrometric detection. The experiments were conducted over the temperature range 203-233 K and freezing solutions containing either H2SO4 (0.2 N) or HNO3 (0.2-3 N). Adsorption of acetone on these ice surfaces was always found to be totally reversible whatever were the experimental conditions. The number of acetone molecules adsorbed per ice surface unit N was conventionally plotted as a function of acetone concentration in the gas phase. For the same conditions, the amount of acetone molecules adsorbed on pure ice obtained by deposition are about 3-4 times higher than those measured on frozen ice films, H2SO4-doped ice surfaces lead to results comparable to those obtained on pure ice. On the contrary, N increases largely with increasing concentrations of nitric acid in ice surfaces, up to about 300 times under our experimental conditions and for temperatures ranging between 213 and 233 K. Finally, the results are discussed and used to reestimate the partitioning of acetone between the ice and gas phases in clouds of the upper troposphere.