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The role of structural order in heterogeneous ice nucleation.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Sudera, Prerna 
Fröhlich-Nowoisky, Janine  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1278-0054

Abstract

The freezing of water into ice is a key process that is still not fully understood. It generally requires an impurity of some description to initiate the heterogeneous nucleation of the ice crystals. The molecular structure, as well as the extent of structural order within the impurity in question, both play an essential role in determining its effectiveness. However, disentangling these two contributions is a challenge for both experiments and simulations. In this work, we have systematically investigated the ice-nucleating ability of the very same compound, cholesterol, from the crystalline (and thus ordered) form to disordered self-assembled monolayers. Leveraging a combination of experiments and simulations, we identify a "sweet spot" in terms of the surface coverage of the monolayers, whereby cholesterol maximises its ability to nucleate ice (which remains inferior to that of crystalline cholesterol) by enhancing the structural order of the interfacial water molecules. These findings have practical implications for the rational design of synthetic ice-nucleating agents.

Description

Keywords

3403 Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry, 34 Chemical Sciences

Journal Title

Chem Sci

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2041-6520
2041-6539

Volume Title

13

Publisher

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
Sponsorship
European Research Council (616121)