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Updated: Aug 4, 2026

Confocal Imaging of Confined Quiescent and Flowing Colloid-polymer Mixtures
Published on: May 20, 2014
Viscous water meniscus under nanoconfinement
R C Major1, J E Houston, M J McGrath
1Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA.
Abstract:
A dramatic transition in the mechanical properties of water is observed at the nanometer scale. For a water meniscus formed between two hydrophilic surfaces in the attractive region, with < or = 1 nm interfacial separation, the measured viscosity is 7 orders of magnitude greater than that of bulk water at room temperature. Grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations reveal enhancement in the tetrahedral structure and in the number of hydrogen bonds to the surfaces as a source for the high viscosity; this results from a cooperative effect of hydrogen bonding of water molecules to both hydrophilic surfaces.
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