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Updated: Mar 24, 2026
Probing the Structure and Dynamics of Interfacial Water with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy
Published on: May 27, 2018
Concerted hydrogen-bond breaking by quantum tunneling in the water hexamer prism
Jeremy O Richardson1, Cristóbal Pérez2, Simon Lobsiger2
1Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK. Department of Chemistry, Durham University, South Road Durham DH1 3LE, UK.
Abstract:
The nature of the intermolecular forces between water molecules is the same in small hydrogen-bonded clusters as in the bulk. The rotational spectra of the clusters therefore give insight into the intermolecular forces present in liquid water and ice. The water hexamer is the smallest water cluster to support low-energy structures with branched three-dimensional hydrogen-bond networks, rather than cyclic two-dimensional topologies. Here we report measurements of splitting patterns in rotational transitions of the water hexamer prism, and we used quantum simulations to show that they result from geared and antigeared rotations of a pair of water molecules. Unlike previously reported tunneling motions in water clusters, the geared motion involves the concerted breaking of two hydrogen bonds. Similar types of motion may be feasible in interfacial and confined water.
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