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Updated: Apr 25, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Behavior of supercooled aqueous solutions stemming from hidden liquid-liquid transition in water
John W Biddle1, Vincent Holten1, Mikhail A Anisimov1
1Institute for Physical Science and Technology and Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
Abstract:
A popular hypothesis that explains the anomalies of supercooled water is the existence of a metastable liquid-liquid transition hidden below the line of homogeneous nucleation. If this transition exists and if it is terminated by a critical point, the addition of a solute should generate a line of liquid-liquid critical points emanating from the critical point of pure metastable water. We have analyzed thermodynamic consequences of this scenario. In particular, we consider the behavior of two systems, H2O-NaCl and H2O-glycerol. We find the behavior of the heat capacity in supercooled aqueous solutions of NaCl, as reported by Archer and Carter [J. Phys. Chem. B 104, 8563 (2000)], to be consistent with the presence of the metastable liquid-liquid transition. We elucidate the non-conserved nature of the order parameter (extent of "reaction" between two alternative structures of water) and the consequences of its coupling with conserved properties (density and concentration). We also show how the shape of the critical line in a solution controls the difference in concentration of the coexisting liquid phases.
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