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Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Experimental observation of liquid-solid transition of nanoconfined water at ambient temperature
Wentian Zheng1, Shichen Zhang1, Jian Jiang2,3
1International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Nanoconfined water exhibits many abnormal properties compared with bulk water. However, the origin of those anomalies remains controversial due to the lack of experimental access to the molecular-level details of the hydrogen-bonding network of water within a nanocavity. Here we address this issue by combining scanning probe microscopy with nitrogen-vacancy-centre-based quantum sensing. Such a technique allows us to characterize both dynamics and structure of water confined between a hexagonal boron nitride flake and a hydrophilic diamond surface by nanoscale nuclear magnetic resonance. We observe a liquid-solid phase transition of nanoconfined water at ambient temperature with an onset confinement size of ~1.6 nm, below which the water diffusion is considerably suppressed and the hydrogen-bonding network of water becomes structurally ordered. The complete crystallization is observed below a confinement size of ~1 nm. The liquid-solid transition is further confirmed by molecular dynamics simulation. These findings shed new light on the phase transition of nanoconfined water and may form a unified picture for understanding water anomalies at the nanoscale.
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