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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

The Preparation of Electrohydrodynamic Bridges from Polar Dielectric Liquids
Published on: September 30, 2014
Freezing transition of interfacial water at room temperature under electric fields
Eun-Mi Choi1, Young-Hwan Yoon, Sangyoub Lee
1Department of Chemistry, Seoul National University, Kwanak-Ku, Seoul 151-747, Republic of Korea.
Abstract:
The freezing of liquid water into ice was studied inside a gap of nanometer spacing under the control of electric fields and gap distance. The interfacial water underwent a sudden, reversible phase transition to ice in electric fields of 10(6) V m(-1) at room temperature. The critical field strength for the freezing transition was much weaker than that theoretically predicted for alignment of water dipoles and crystallization into polar cubic ice (>10(9) V m(-1)). This new type of freezing mechanism, occurring in weak electric fields and at room temperature, may have immediate implications for ice formation in diverse natural environments.
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