Temperature dependence of the proton kinetic energy in water between 5 and 673K

Quantum motion of oxygen and hydrogen in water: Atomic and total kinetic energy across melting from neutron scattering measurements

We provide a concurrent measurement of the hydrogen and oxygen nuclear kinetic energies in the water molecule across melting at 270 K in the solid phase and 276 K in the liquid phase. Experimental values are obtained by analyzing the neutron Compton profiles of each atomic species in a deep inelastic neutron scattering experiment. The concurrent measurement of the atom kinetic energy of both hydrogen and oxygen allows the estimate of the total kinetic energy per molecule due to the motion of nuclei, specifically 35.3 ± 0.8 and 34.8 ± 0.8 kJ/mol for the solid and liquid phases, respectively. Such a small difference supports results from ab initio simulations and phenomenological models from the literature on the mechanism of competing quantum effects across the phase change. Despite the experimental uncertainties, the results are consistent with the trend from state-of-the-art computer simulations, whereby the atom and molecule kinetic energies in the liquid phase would be slightly lower than in the solid phase. Moreover, the small change of nuclear kinetic energy across melting can be used to simplify the calculation of neutron-related environmental dose in complex locations, such as high altitude or polar neutron radiation research stations where liquid water and ice are both present: for neutron energies between hundreds of meV and tens of keV, the total scattering cross section per molecule in the two phases can be considered the same, with the macroscopic cross section only depending upon the density changes of water near the melting point.

Anisotropy of the Proton Kinetic Energy as a Tool for Capturing Structural Transition in Water Confined in a Graphene Nanoslit Pore

The proton dynamics of a 2D water monolayer confined inside a graphene slit pore is studied in Cartesian and molecular frames of reference using molecular dynamics simulations. The vibrational density of states of the proton was calculated versus temperature and was further used to deduce the mean kinetic energy of the hydrogen atoms, Ke(H), in both frames of reference. The directional components of Ke(H) are in good agreement with experimental observations for bulk as well as nanoconfined water. Nonetheless, while in the molecular frame of reference the effect of temperature on the anisotropy ratios of Ke(H) (the ratio between its directional components) are practically invariant between the 2D and 3D cases, those in the Cartesian frame of reference reveal a rather notable reduction across 200 K, indicating the occurrence of an order-disorder transition. This result is further supported by the calculated entropy and enthalpy of the confined water molecules. Overall, it is shown that Ke(H) anisotropy ratios may serve as a valuable order parameter for detecting structural transformations in hydrogen bonds containing molecular systems.

Thermal neutron cross sections of amino acids from average contributions of functional groups

The experimental thermal neutron cross sections of the 20 proteinogenic amino acids have been measured over the incident-neutron energy range spanning from 1 meV to 10 keV and data have been interpreted using the multi-phonon expansion based on first-principles calculations. The scattering cross section, dominated by the incoherent inelastic contribution from the hydrogen atoms, can be rationalised in terms of the average contributions of different functional groups, thus neglecting their correlation. These results can be used for modelling the total neutron cross sections of complex organic systems like proteins, muscles, or human tissues from a limited number of starting input functions. This simplification is of crucial importance for fine-tuning of transport simulations used in medical applications, including boron neutron capture therapy as well as secondary neutrons-emission induced during proton therapy. Moreover, the parametrized neutron cross sections allow a better treatment of neutron scattering experiments, providing detailed sample self-attenuation corrections for a variety of biological and soft-matter systems.

The effective isotropy of the hydrogen local potential in biphenyl and other hydrocarbons

We present an experimental investigation of the hydrogen nuclear momentum distribution in biphenyl using deep inelastic neutron scattering. Our experimental results suggest that the local potential affecting hydrogen is both harmonic and isotropic within experimental uncertainties. This feature is interpreted as a consequence of the central limit theorem, whereby the three-dimensional momentum distribution is expected to become a purely Gaussian function as the number of independent vibrational modes in a system increases. We also performed ab initio phonon calculations on biphenyl and other saturated hydrocarbons, from methane to decane. From the results of the simulations, one can observe that the nuclear momentum distribution becomes more isotropic as the number of atoms and normal modes in the molecule increases. Moreover, the predicted theoretical anisotropy in biphenyl is clearly larger than in the experiment. The reason is that the total number of normal modes necessary to reproduce the experimental results is much larger than the number of normal modes encompassed by a single unit cell due to the presence of structural disorder and intermolecular interactions in the real crystal, as well as coupling of different normal modes. Finally, experimental data were collected, over a subset of detectors on the VESUVIO spectrometer at ISIS, with a novel setup to increase the count rate and signal-to-background ratio. We envision that such an optimized experimental setup can provide faster measurements and more stringent constraints for phonon calculations.

Hydrogen Dynamics in Supercritical Water Probed by Neutron Scattering and Computer Simulations

In this work, an investigation of supercritical water is presented combining inelastic and deep inelastic neutron scattering experiments and molecular dynamics simulations based on a machine-learned potential of ab initio quality. The local hydrogen dynamics is investigated at 250 bar and in the temperature range of 553-823 K, covering the evolution from subcritical liquid to supercritical gas-like water. The evolution of libration, bending, and stretching motions in the vibrational density of states is studied, analyzing the spectral features by a mode decomposition. Moreover, the hydrogen nuclear momentum distribution is measured, and its anisotropy is probed experimentally. It is shown that hydrogen bonds survive up to the higher temperatures investigated, and we discuss our results in the framework of the coupling between intramolecular modes and intermolecular librations. Results show that the local potential affecting hydrogen becomes less anisotropic within the molecular plane in the supercritical phase, and we attribute this result to the presence of more distorted hydrogen bonds.

Thermal treatment on sewage sludge by electromagnetic induction heating: Methodology and drying characterization

Thermal drying of sewage sludge is not only an effective way to treat the waste, but also an essential step for further energy utilization. This work focused on drying property of sewage sludge by using electromagnetic induction heating. A novel drying method for sewage sludge was designed. The effects of different electromagnetic-induction media materials, working parameters and conditioning reagents on the efficiency of drying were investigated. Then, the kinetics was analyzed. The change of temperature and heat-transfer was analyzed during the drying process. Experimental results showed that sewage sludge combined with three kinds of induction medias can be efficiently dried by applying electromagnetic induction heating. Fast formation and development of cracks indicated that an increase of drying rates of sludge can be obtained. Considering the release of volatile organic compounds from sludge during drying process, estimated moisture content was used to evaluate the drying effect. A Higher working voltage leaded to a more weight reduction of sludge during a shorter drying time, but a lower voltage prolonged the drying time. It was noted that the estimated moisture rate was very close to the experimental moisture content. Sludge content, forming and induction media significantly affected the drying process. Plate and net media were fitted for thin layer and piled sludge, respectively. However, fiber media seemed to show lower drying rate due to no circuit for induction current. An addition of CaO and sawdust improved the drying process. As a result, few volatile organic compounds released from sludge. For kinetics, three periods (warm-up, constant rate and falling rate period) can be observed and the data fitted linear regression of Lewis drying model very well. The effective moisture diffusivity was influenced by the different induction media and the thickness of sludge. Infrared images showed that outside temperature was higher than central part temperature for all sludge samples. A higher evaporation rate and diffusion of moisture can be obtained from outside part of sludge due to the easy collapse of porous structure.

Quantum behavior of water nano-confined in beryl

The proton mean kinetic energy, Ke(H), of water confined in nanocavities of beryl (Be₃Al₂Si₆O₁₈) at 5 K was obtained by simulating the partial vibrational density of states from density functional theory based first-principles calculations. The result, Ke(H) = 104.4 meV, is in remarkable agreement with the 5 K deep inelastic neutron scattering (DINS) measured value of 105 meV. This is in fact the first successful calculation that reproduces an anomalous DINS value regarding Ke(H) in nano-confined water. The calculation indicates that the vibrational states of the proton of the nano-confined water molecule distribute much differently than in ordinary H₂O phases, most probably due to coupling with lattice modes of the hosting beryl nano-cage. These findings may be viewed as a promising step towards the resolution of the DINS controversial measurements on other H₂O nano-confining systems, e.g., H₂O confined in single and double walled carbon nanotubes.

Evaluation on the air-borne ultrasound-assisted hot air convection thin-layer drying performance of municipal sewage sludge

The thin-layer drying behavior of the municipal sewage sludge in a laboratory-scale hot air forced convective dryer assisted with air-borne ultrasound was investigated in between 70 and 130°C hot air temperatures. The drying kinetics in the convective process alone were compared to that for ultrasound-assist process at three ultrasound powers (30, 90, 150W). The average drying rates within whole drying temperature range at ultrasound powers of 30, 90 and 150W increased by about 22.6%, 27.8% and 32.2% compared with the convective drying alone (without ultrasound). As the temperature increasing from 70°C to 130°C, there were maximum increasing ratios for the effective moisture diffusivities of the sewage sludge in both falling rate periods at ultrasonic power of 30W in comparison with other two high powers. In between the ultrasound powers of 0 and 30W, the effect of the power on the drying rate was significant, while its effect was not obvious over 30W. Therefore, the low ultrasonic power can be just set in the drying process. The values of the apparent activation energy in the first falling rate period were down from 13.52 to 12.78kJmol^-1, and from 17.21 to 15.10kJmol^-1 for the second falling rate period with increasing the ultrasonic power from 30 to 150W. The values of the apparent activation energy in two falling rate periods with the ultrasound-assist were less than that for the hot air convective drying alone.

Direct Measurements of Quantum Kinetic Energy Tensor in Stable and Metastable Water near the Triple Point: An Experimental Benchmark

This study presents the first direct and quantitative measurement of the nuclear momentum distribution anisotropy and the quantum kinetic energy tensor in stable and metastable (supercooled) water near its triple point, using deep inelastic neutron scattering (DINS). From the experimental spectra, accurate line shapes of the hydrogen momentum distributions are derived using an anisotropic Gaussian and a model-independent framework. The experimental results, benchmarked with those obtained for the solid phase, provide the state of the art directional values of the hydrogen mean kinetic energy in metastable water. The determinations of the direction kinetic energies in the supercooled phase, provide accurate and quantitative measurements of these dynamical observables in metastable and stable phases, that is, key insight in the physical mechanisms of the hydrogen quantum state in both disordered and polycrystalline systems. The remarkable findings of this study establish novel insight into further expand the capacity and accuracy of DINS investigations of the nuclear quantum effects in water and represent reference experimental values for theoretical investigations.

Intramolecular structure and energetics in supercooled water down to 255 K

We studied the structure and energetics of supercooled water by means of X-ray Raman and Compton scattering. Under supercooled conditions down to 255 K, the oxygen K-edge measured by X-ray Raman scattering suggests an increase of tetrahedral order similar to the conventional temperature effect observed in non-supercooled water. Compton profile differences indicate contributions beyond the theoretically predicted temperature effect and provide a deeper insight into local structural changes. These contributions suggest a decrease of the electron mean kinetic energy by 3.3 ± 0.7 kJ (mol K)(-1) that cannot be modeled within established water models. Our surprising results emphasize the need for water models that capture in detail the intramolecular structural changes and quantum effects to explain this complex liquid.

On the mean kinetic energy of the proton in strong hydrogen bonded systems

The mean atomic kinetic energies of the proton, Ke(H), and of the deuteron, Ke(D), were calculated in moderate and strongly hydrogen bonded (HB) systems, such as the ferro-electric crystals of the KDP type (XH2PO4, X = K, Cs, Rb, Tl), the DKDP (XD2PO4, X = K, Cs, Rb) type, and the X3H(SO4)2 superprotonic conductors (X = K, Rb). All calculations utilized the simulated partial phonon density of states, deduced from density functional theory based first-principle calculations and from empirical lattice dynamics simulations in which the Coulomb, short range, covalent, and van der Waals interactions were accounted for. The presently calculated Ke(H) values for the two systems were found to be in excellent agreement with published values obtained by deep inelastic neutron scattering measurements carried out using the VESUVIO instrument of the Rutherford Laboratory, UK. The Ke(H) values of the M3H(SO4)2 compounds, in which the hydrogen bonds are centro-symmetric, are much lower than those of the KDP type crystals, in direct consistency with the oxygen-oxygen distance ROO, being a measure of the HB strength.

Evolution of Hydrogen Dynamics in Amorphous Ice with Density

The single-particle dynamics of hydrogen atoms in several of the amorphous ices are reported using a combination of deep inelastic neutron scattering (DINS) and inelastic neutron scattering (INS). The mean kinetic energies of the hydrogen nuclei are found to increase with increasing density, indicating the weakening of hydrogen bonds as well as a trend toward steeper and more harmonic hydrogen vibrational potential energy surfaces. DINS shows much more pronounced changes in the O-H stretching component of the mean kinetic energy going from low- to high-density amorphous ices than indicated by INS and Raman spectroscopy. This highlights the power of the DINS technique to retrieve accurate ground-state kinetic energies beyond the harmonic approximation. In a novel approach, we use information from DINS and INS to determine the anharmonicity constants of the O-H stretching modes. Furthermore, our experimental kinetic energies will serve as important benchmark values for path-integral Monte Carlo simulations.