An ice phase of lowest thermal conductivity

Comparative Analysis of the Hydrogen Bond Vibrations of Ice XII

It is difficult to theoretically study the vibrational spectrum of hydrogen-disordered ice XII compared with its hydrogen-ordered counterpart, ice XIV. We constructed a 24-molecule supercell of ice XII to mimic its real structure. We focused on hydrogen bond (HB) vibrational modes in the translation band using first-principles density functional theory (DFT). Our simulated results were in good agreement with inelastic neutron scattering experiments. We found that the optical vibrational modes of HBs are composed of three main components. These are cluster vibrations in the lowest-frequency region, four-bond HB vibrations in the highest-frequency region, and two-bond modes in between. Although the experimentally recorded curve of ice XII is smooth in the translation region, our results support the proposal that two types of intrinsic HB vibrational modes are common in the ice family.

Temperature dependence of the heat diffusivity of proteins

In a combined experimental-theoretical study, we investigated the transport of vibrational energy from the surrounding solvent into the interior of a heme protein, the sperm whale myoglobin double mutant L29W-S108L, and its dependence on temperature from 20 to 70 K. The hindered libration of a CO molecule that is not covalently bound to any part of the protein but is trapped in one of its binding pockets (the Xe4 pocket) was used as the local thermometer. Energy was deposited into the solvent by IR excitation. Experimentally, the energy transfer rate increased from (30 ps)(-1) at 20 K to (8 ps)(-1) at 70 K. This temperature trend is opposite to what is expected, assuming that the mechanism of heat transport is similar to that in glasses. In order to elucidate the mechanism and its temperature dependence, nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed, which, however, predicted an essentially temperature-independent rate of vibrational energy flow. We tentatively conclude that the MD potentials overestimate the coupling between the protein and the CO molecule, which appears to be the rate-limiting step in the real system at low temperatures. Assuming that this coupling is anharmonic in nature, the observed temperature trend can readily be explained.

In situ Raman spectroscopy of low-temperature/high-pressure transformations of H2O

In situ Raman spectra of transformations of H2O as functions of pressure and temperature have been measured starting from high-density amorphous ice (HDA). Changes above Tx, the crystallization temperature of HDA, were observed. The spectra provide evidence for an abrupt, first-order-like, structural change that appears to be distinct from those associated with the transformation between low-density amorphous ice (LDA) and HDA. In separate experiments, in situ Raman spectra of ice XII transformed from HDA have been measured at various P-T regions, in order to improve the understanding of the stability limits of ice XII. The spectra of ices VI and XII differ in shape, but the vibrational frequencies are very close in the same P-T regimes. A metastable phase of ice found to form within the stability field of ice VI appears to be distinct from ice XII.

Dielectric relaxation time of bulk water at 136–140K, background loss and crystallization effects

Dielectric relaxation time, tau, of ultraviscous bulk water has been determined by analyzing its loss tangent, tan delta, data, which had been measured on heating the vapor-deposited amorphous solid water and hyperquenched glassy water in our earlier studies. [Johari, Hallbrucker, and Mayer, J. Chem. Phys. 95, 2955 (1991); 97, 5851 (1992)]. As for glasses and liquids generally, the measured tan delta of water is the sum of a frequency-independent background loss and a frequency-dependent relaxational loss. A two-frequency method is provided for determining the background loss and used for obtaining the relaxational part of tan delta. After considering the structural relaxation and crystal-nuclei growth effects, tau for water has been determined. At 136+/-1 K, it is 2.5+/-0.6 s when a single relaxation time is (untenably) assumed, and 42+/-14 s when a distribution of relaxation times, a characteristic of viscous liquids, is assumed, with Davidson-Cole distribution parameter of 0.75. Structural relaxation time of approximately 70 s for water at 136 K, which was originally estimated from the DSC endotherm [Johari, Hallbrucker, and Mayer, Nature (London) 330, 552 (1987)], has been revised to approximately 33 s. Temperature dependence of tau could not be determined because ultraviscous water crystallizes too rapidly to cubic ice containing stacking faults and intergranular water. The study demonstrates that water is a liquid over the 136-155 K range, thus removing the basis for a recent contention on its state.

Spontaneous transformation of water’s high-density amorph and a two-stage crystallization to ice VI at 1 GPa: A dielectric study

Dielectric relaxation spectra of a metastable crystal phase formed on implosive and exothermic transformation of pressure-amorphized hexagonal ice have been measured in situ at 0.97 GPa pressure over a range of temperature. The metastable phase showed no relaxation peak at 130 K and 0.97 GPa. When heated at a fixed pressure of 0.97 GPa, it began to transform at approximately 145 K exothermally to a phase whose relaxation rate and equilibrium dielectric permittivity increased. A second, but slower exothermic transformation also occurred at approximately 175 K. After keeping at 213 K, the relaxation rate and equilibrium permittivity reached the known values of these two quantities for ice VI. Thus the metastable phase transformed to ice VI in two stages. It is conjectured that the intermediate phase in this transformation could be ice XII. The rate of transformation is not determined by the reorientational relaxation rate of water molecules in the ices.