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Updated: Jun 27, 2026

Proof-of-Concept for Gas-Entrapping Membranes Derived from Water-Loving SiO2/Si/SiO2 Wafers for Green Desalination
Published on: March 1, 2020
Freezing and melting of water confined in silica nanopores
Gerhard H Findenegg1, Susanne Jähnert, Dilek Akcakayiran
1Institut für Chemie, Stranski Laboratorium für Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany. findenegg@chem.tu-berlin.de
Abstract:
In nanosized pores, liquid water can be thermodynamically stable down to temperatures well below the limit of homogeneous nucleation of bulk water ( approximately 235 K). Studies of water in such pores therefore offer an opportunity to reveal the anomalous behavior of deeply supercooled water. Herein we focus on recent studies of the limits of freezing and melting of water in the cylindrical pores of ordered mesoporous silicas with pore diameters in the range of 2-10 nm, based on vapor sorption measurements, calorimetric studies, NMR spectroscopy and cryoporometry, and neutron diffraction studies.
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