Two-dimensional diffraction study of ice crystallisation in polymer gels
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Updated: Aug 23, 2026

On-Chip Crystallization and Large-Scale Serial Diffraction at Room Temperature
Published on: March 11, 2022
Norio Murase1, Satoru Abe, Hiroshi Takahashi
1Department of Biotechnology, School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Denki University, Hatoyama, Hiki-gun, Saitama 350-0394, Japan. nmurase@b.dendai.ac.jp
Abstract:
Ice crystallisation in crosslinked dextran (Sephadex) gels was studied by the method of two-dimensional X-ray diffraction (XRD) in combination with the simultaneous measurement of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). With a Sephadex G25 gel where an exotherm due to ice crystallisation is observed in the DSC rewarming trace, it was indicated by the XRD pattern that small ice crystals less than approximately 10 microns in diameter are readily formed during freezing, and that the endothermic trend prior to the exotherm is not due to the glass transition but due to the melting of the small ice crystals. Moreover, the diffraction pattern observed with frozen Sephadex gels depended on the density of crosslink indicating that ice crystals of different size and dimension are formed in the gels.

