Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Diffusion01:12

Diffusion

217.3K
Diffusion is the passive movement of substances down their concentration gradients—requiring no expenditure of cellular energy. Substances, such as molecules or ions, diffuse from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration in the cytosol or across membranes. Eventually, the concentration will even out, with the substance moving randomly but causing no net change in concentration. Such a state is called dynamic equilibrium, which is essential for maintaining overall...
217.3K
Diffusion01:21

Diffusion

6.3K
Diffusion is a type of passive transport. In passive transport, a substance tends to move from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration until the concentration is equal across the space. For example, take the diffusion of substances through the air. When someone opens a perfume bottle in a room filled with people, the perfume is at its highest concentration in the bottle and is at its lowest at the edges of the room. The perfume vapor will diffuse, or spread away, from the...
6.3K
Water and Mineral Acquisition02:34

Water and Mineral Acquisition

35.5K
Specialized tissues in plant roots have evolved to capture water, minerals, and some ions from the soil. Roots exhibit a variety of branching patterns that facilitate this process. The outermost root cells have specialized structures called root hairs that increase the root surface, thus increasing soil contact. Water can passively cross into roots, as the concentration of water in the soil is higher than that of the root tissue. Minerals, in contrast, are actively transported into root cells.
35.5K
Facilitated Diffusion01:16

Facilitated Diffusion

1.2K
The plasma membrane, a critical structure in cellular biology, houses an array of transporters, or carrier proteins, interspersed within its lipid bilayer. These proteins play a crucial role in solute transport through facilitated diffusion, a form of passive diffusion that uses transporters to move the molecules across the membrane.
In this process, substrates such as organic compounds and ions interact with a transporter on one side, triggering conformational changes in proteins that enable...
1.2K
Physiological Barriers01:25

Physiological Barriers

5.2K
Physiological barriers are semi-permeable cellular structures restricting drug diffusion into intracellular compartments and tissues. There are six types of physiological barriers: blood endothelial, cell membrane, blood-brain, blood-cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), blood-placenta, and blood-testis barriers.
The blood endothelial barrier is the most porous of these. It allows all small ionized, un-ionized, and lipophilic molecules to pass through the endothelial lining into the interstitial space...
5.2K
States of Water01:23

States of Water

56.5K
Water exists in any one of the three classical states: solid (ice), liquid (water), and gas (steam or water vapor). The state of water depends on i) the intermolecular forces that draw molecules together and ii) the kinetic energy that leads to movements that pull them apart.
Water freezes when the intermolecular forces are greater than the kinetic energy. Unlike most other substances, water is less dense in its solid state than in its liquid state. This is because each water molecule can form...
56.5K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

How reactive is water at the nanoscale and how to control it?

Science advances·2026
Same author

Electrophilic activation of water by a carbene catalyzed by a copper surface.

Chemical science·2026
Same author

Nuclear quantum effects amplify autoionization-driven superionic behaviour in nanoconfined monolayer water.

Chemical science·2026
Same author

When is nanoconfined water different from interfacial water?

Faraday discussions·2026
Same author

Mechanisms for the formation of active sites in single-atom alloys.

Nanoscale·2026
Same author

Nanoconfined superionic water is a molecular superionic.

Science advances·2026

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 26, 2026

Generating a Fractal Microstructure of Laminin-111 to Signal to Cells
06:56

Generating a Fractal Microstructure of Laminin-111 to Signal to Cells

Published on: September 28, 2020

1.3K

Anomalously Low Barrier for Water Dimer Diffusion on Cu(111).

Cord Bertram1,2, Wei Fang3,4,5, Phillipp Pedevilla3,4

  • 1Physical Chemistry I, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry , Ruhr-Universität Bochum , D-44780 Bochum , Germany.

Nano Letters
|April 6, 2019
PubMed
Summary

Water diffusion on surfaces is key for many fields. This study reveals water dimer diffusion barriers are surprisingly similar to monomers, challenging common assumptions about adsorption energy. This impacts understanding ice nanocluster formation.

Keywords:
DFTDiffusionSTMadsorption energyhydrogen bondswater

More Related Videos

Chemical Dimerization-Induced Protein Condensates on Telomeres
08:52

Chemical Dimerization-Induced Protein Condensates on Telomeres

Published on: April 12, 2021

3.6K
Dissociation of the Confounding Influences of Expectancy and Integrative Difficulty Residing in Anomalous Sentences in Event-related Potential Studies
05:22

Dissociation of the Confounding Influences of Expectancy and Integrative Difficulty Residing in Anomalous Sentences in Event-related Potential Studies

Published on: May 9, 2019

5.8K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jan 26, 2026

Generating a Fractal Microstructure of Laminin-111 to Signal to Cells
06:56

Generating a Fractal Microstructure of Laminin-111 to Signal to Cells

Published on: September 28, 2020

1.3K
Chemical Dimerization-Induced Protein Condensates on Telomeres
08:52

Chemical Dimerization-Induced Protein Condensates on Telomeres

Published on: April 12, 2021

3.6K
Dissociation of the Confounding Influences of Expectancy and Integrative Difficulty Residing in Anomalous Sentences in Event-related Potential Studies
05:22

Dissociation of the Confounding Influences of Expectancy and Integrative Difficulty Residing in Anomalous Sentences in Event-related Potential Studies

Published on: May 9, 2019

5.8K

Area of Science:

  • Surface Science
  • Physical Chemistry
  • Materials Science

Background:

  • Understanding water and ice at the molecular level is crucial for atmospheric chemistry, astrophysics, and biology.
  • While water and ice structures on surfaces are well-studied, their kinetic motion remains poorly understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the diffusion kinetics of water monomers and dimers on a surface.
  • To elucidate the mechanisms governing water diffusion and dimer formation.
  • To challenge conventional relationships between adsorption energy and diffusion barriers.

Main Methods:

  • Employed time-lapse low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (LT-STM) for long-term observation of individual water molecules.
  • Utilized first-principles electronic structure calculations to model water-surface interactions.
  • Studied diffusion on an atomically flat copper (Cu(111)) surface.

Main Results:

  • Established diffusion rates and mechanisms for water monomers and dimers over extended periods (days).
  • Observed similar diffusion barriers for water monomers and dimers, despite the dimer's higher adsorption energy.
  • Identified directional and flexible hydrogen bonding within the dimer as the cause for this deviation from expected behavior.

Conclusions:

  • The study violates the rule of thumb correlating diffusion barriers with adsorption energies for water dimers.
  • The flexibility of hydrogen bonds in water dimers is critical for their diffusion dynamics.
  • Static structure analysis alone is insufficient for understanding early-stage ice nanocluster formation.