Polymorphism and polyamorphism in bilayer water confined to slit nanopore under high pressure

HTR+: a novel algorithm for identifying type and polycrystal of gas hydrates

In this work, the hierarchical topology ring (HTR+) algorithm, an extension of the HTR algorithm, was developed for identifying gas hydrate types, cage structures, and grain boundaries (GBs) within polycrystalline structures. Utilizing molecular dynamics trajectories of polycrystalline hydrates, the accuracy of the HTR+ algorithm is validated in identifying sI, sII and sH hydrate types, hydrate grains, and GBs in multi-hydrate polycrystals, as well as clathrate cages at GBs. Additionally, during the hydrate nucleation and growth processes, clathrate cages, hydrate type, hydrate grains and ice structures are accurately recognized. Significantly, this algorithm demonstrates high efficiency, particularly for large hydrate systems. HTR+ algorithm emerges a powerful tool for identifying micro/mesoscopic structures of gas hydrates, enabling an in-depth understanding of the formation mechanisms and properties of gas hydrates.

Formation of a two-dimensional helical square tube ice in hydrophobic nanoslit using the TIP5P water model

In extreme and nanoconfinement conditions, the tetrahedral arrangement of water molecules is challenged, resulting in a rich and new phase behavior unseen in bulk phases. The unique phase behavior of water confined in hydrophobic nanoslits has been previously observed, such as the formation of a variety of two-dimensional (2D) ices below the freezing temperature. The primary identified 2D ice phase, termed square tube ice (STI), represents a unique arrangement of water molecules in 2D ice, which can be viewed as an array of 1D ice nanotubes stacked in the direction parallel to the confinement plane. In this study, we report the molecular dynamics (MD) simulations evidence of a novel 2D ice phase, namely, helical square tube ice (H-STI). H-STI is characterized by the stacking of helical ice nanotubes in the direction parallel to the confinement plane. Its structural specificity is evident in the presence of helical square ice nanotubes, a configuration unseen in both STI and single-walled ice nanotubes. A detailed analysis of the hydrogen bonding strength showed that H-STI is a 2D ice phase diverging from the Bernal-Fowler-Pauling ice rules by forming only two strong hydrogen bonds between adjacent molecules along its helical ice chain. This arrangement of strong hydrogen bonds along ice nanotube and weak bonds between the ice nanotube shows a similarity to quasi-one-dimensional van der Waals materials. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations (over a 30 ps) were employed to further verify H-STI's stability at 1 GPa and temperature up to 200 K.

The performance of OPC and OPC3 water models in predictions of 2D structures under nanoconfinement

Nanoconfined water plays an important role in broad fields of science and engineering. Classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been widely used to investigate water phases under nanoconfinement. The key ingredient of MD is the force field. In this study, we systematically investigated the performance of a recently introduced family of globally optimal water models, OPC and OPC3, and TIP4P/2005 in describing nanoconfined two-dimensional (2D) water ice. Our studies show that the melting points of the monolayer square ice (MSI) of all three water models are higher than the melting points of the corresponding bulk ice Ih. Under the same conditions, the melting points of MSI of OPC and TIP4P/2005 are the same and are ∼90 K lower than that of the OPC3 water model. In addition, we show that OPC and TIP4P/2005 water models are able to form a bilayer AA-stacked structure and a trilayer AAA-stacked structure, which are not the cases for the OPC3 model. Considering the available experimental data and first-principles simulations, we consider the OPC water model as a potential water model for 2D water ice MD studies.

Evidence of Spontaneous Formation of Two-Dimensional Amorphous Clathrates on Superhydrophilic Surfaces

Clathrate hydrates reserved in the seabed are often dispersed in the pores of coarse-grained sediments; hence, their formation typically occurs under nanoconfinement. Herein, we show the first molecular dynamics (MD) simulation evidence of the spontaneous formation of two-dimensional (2D) clathrate hydrates on crystal surfaces without conventional nanoconfinement. The kinetic process of 2D clathrate formation is illustrated via simulated single-molecule deposition. 2D amorphous patterns are observed on various superhydrophilic face-centered cubic surfaces. Notably, the formation of 2D amorphous clathrate can occur over a wide range of temperatures, even at room temperature. The strong water-surface interaction, the characteristic properties of guest-gas molecules, and the underlying surface structure dictate the formation of 2D amorphous clathrates. Semiquantitative phase diagrams of 2D clathrates are constructed where representative patterns of 2D clathrates for characteristic gas molecules on prototypical Pd(111) and Pt(111) surfaces are confirmed by independent MD simulations. A tunable pattern of 2D amorphous clathrates is demonstrated by changing the lattice strain of the underlying substrate. Moreover, ab initio MD simulations confirm the stability of 2D amorphous clathrate. The underlining physical mechanism for 2D clathrate formation on superhydrophilic surfaces is elucidated, which offers deeper insight into the crucial role of water-surface interaction.

Puckered Zigzag Monolayer Ice: Does a Confined Flat Four-Coordinated Monolayer Ice Always Have a Corresponding Puckered Phase?

We note that a flat, four-coordinated monolayer ice under confinement always has a corresponding puckered phase. Recently, a monolayer ice consisting of an array of zigzag water chains (ZZMI) predicted by first-principles calculations of water under confinement is a flat four-coordinated monolayer ice. Herein, to investigate whether puckered ZZMI exists stably, we perform molecular dynamics simulations of two-dimensional (2D) ice formation for water constrained in graphene nanocapillaries. We find a novel monolayer ice structure that can be viewed as the ZZMI puckered along the direction perpendicular to the zigzag chain (pZZMI). Unlike ZZMI that does not satisfy the ice rule, each water molecule in pZZMI can form four hydrogen bonds (HBs) via forming two stable intersublayer HBs and two intrasublayer HBs. This work provides a fresh perspective on 2D confined ice, highlighting the intrinsic connections between 2D confined ices.

Nanoporous ices: an emerging class in the water/ice family

The history of scientific research on diverse ice structures dates back to more than a century. To date, 20 three-dimensional crystalline ice phases (ice I-ice XX) have been identified in the laboratory, among which ice XVI and ice XVII belong to a class of low-density nanoporous ices. Nanoporous ices can also be viewed as a special class of porous materials or water ice, as they possess a relatively high fraction of nano-cavities and/or nano-channels built into the hydrogen-bonded water framework. As such, like the prototypical class of porous materials (e.g., MOFs and COFs), nanoporous ices can be named as water oxygen-vertex frameworks (WOFs). Because of their large surface-to-volume ratio, WOFs may be potential media for gas storage, gas purification and separation. They may be applied to the biomedical field owing to their excellent biocompatibility. The field of porous ices is still emerging, as many porous ice structures that are predicted to be stable by computer simulations require future experimental confirmation. For future theoretical/computational studies, as the machine-learning method becomes an increasingly popular research tool in the material science and chemical science fields, more reliable porous ice structures and phase diagrams will be predicted with the development of more accurate machine-learning force fields.

The pressure induced phase diagram of double-layer ice under confinement: a first-principles study

Here, we present double-layer ice confined within various carbon nanotubes (CNTs) using state-of-the-art pressure induced (-5 GPa to 5 GPa) dispersion corrected density functional theory (DFT) calculations. We find that the double-layer ice exhibits remarkably rich and diverse phase behaviors as a function of pressure with varying CNT diameters. The lattice cohesive energies for various pure double layer ice phases follow the order of hexagonal > pentagonal > square tube > hexagonal-close-packed (HCP) > square > buckled-rhombic (b-RH). The confinement width was found to play a crucial role in the square and square tube phases in the intermediate pressure range of about 0-1 GPa. Unlike the phase transition in pure bilayer ice structures, the relative enthalpies demonstrate that the pentagonal phase, rather than the hexagonal structure, is the most stable ice polymorph at ambient pressure as well as in a deep negative pressure region, whereas the b-RH phase dominates under high pressure. The relatively short O⋯O distance of b-RH demonstrates the presence of a strong hydrogen bonding network, which is responsible for stabilizing the system.

Two-dimensional partitioned square ice confined in graphene/graphite nanocapillaries

As one of the most fascinating confined water/ice phenomena, two-dimensional square ice has been extensively studied and experimentally confirmed in recent years. Apart from the unidirectional homogeneous square icing patterns considered in previous studies, the multidirectional partitioned square icing patterns are discovered in this study and characterized by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Square icing parameters are proposed to quantitatively distinguish the partitioned patterns from the homogeneous patterns and the liquid water. The number of graphene monolayers n is varied in this study, and the results show that it is more energetically favorable to form partitioned square icing patterns when the water molecules are confined between graphite sheets (n ≥ 2) compared to graphene (n = 1). This phenomenon is insensitive to n as long as n ≥ 2 because of the short-range nature of the interaction between water molecules and the carbon substrate. Moreover, it is energetically unfavorable to form partitioned square icing patterns for a single layer of water molecules even for n ≥ 2, verifying that the interaction between layers of water molecules is another dominant factor in the formation of partitioned structures. The conversion from partitioned structure to homogeneous square patterns is investigated by changing the pressure and the temperature. Based on the comprehensive MD simulations, this study unveils the formation mechanism of the partitioned square icing patterns.

Two-dimensional monolayer salt nanostructures can spontaneously aggregate rather than dissolve in dilute aqueous solutions

It is well known that NaCl salt crystals can easily dissolve in dilute aqueous solutions at room temperature. Herein, we reported the first computational evidence of a novel salt nucleation behavior at room temperature, i.e., the spontaneous formation of two-dimensional (2D) alkali chloride crystalline/non-crystalline nanostructures in dilute aqueous solution under nanoscale confinement. Microsecond-scale classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations showed that NaCl or LiCl, initially fully dissolved in confined water, can spontaneously nucleate into 2D monolayer nanostructures with either ordered or disordered morphologies. Notably, the NaCl nanostructures exhibited a 2D crystalline square-unit pattern, whereas the LiCl nanostructures adopted non-crystalline 2D hexagonal ring and/or zigzag chain patterns. These structural patterns appeared to be quite generic, regardless of the water and ion models used in the MD simulations. The generic patterns formed by 2D monolayer NaCl and LiCl nanostructures were also confirmed by ab initio MD simulations. The formation of 2D salt structures in dilute aqueous solution at room temperature is counterintuitive. Free energy calculations indicated that the unexpected spontaneous salt nucleation behavior can be attributed to the nanoscale confinement and strongly compressed hydration shells of ions.

Aqueous solutions under nanoscale confinement exhibit interesting physicochemical properties. This work reports evidence on the spontaneous formation of two-dimensional alkali chloride crystalline/non-crystalline nanostructures in dilute aqueous solution under nanoscale confinement by computer simulations.

Dielectric Profile and Electromelting of a Monolayer of Water Confined in Graphene Slit Pore

A monolayer of water confined between two parallel graphene sheets exists in many different phases and exhibits fascinating dielectric properties that have been studied in experiments. In this work, we use molecular dynamics simulations to study how the dielectric properties of a confined monolayer of water is affected by its structure. We consider six of the popular nonpolarizable water models-SPC/E, SPC/Fw, TIP3P, TIP3P_M (modified), TIP4P-2005, and TIP4P-2005f-and find that the in-plane structure of the water molecules at ambient temperature and pressure is strongly dependent on the water model: all the 3-point water models considered here show square ice formation, whereas no such structural ordering is observed for the 4-point water models. This allows us to investigate the role of the in-plane structure of the water monolayer on its dielectric profile. Our simulations show an anomalous perpendicular dielectric constant compared to the bulk, and the models that do not exhibit ice formation show very different dielectric response along the channel width compared to models that exhibit square ice formation. We also demonstrate the occurrence of electromelting of the in-plane ordered water under the application of a perpendicular electric field and find that the critical field for electromelting strongly depends on the water model. Together, we have shown the dependence of confined water properties on the different water structures that it may take when sandwiched between bilayer graphene. These remarkable properties of confined water can be exploited in various nanofluidic devices, artificial ion channels, and molecular sieving.

First-Principles Molecular Dynamics Simulations of the Spontaneous Freezing Transition of 2D Water in a Nanoslit

As with bulk ices, two-dimensional (2D) ices exhibit diverse crystalline structures, and the majority of these 2D structures have been predicted based on classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Here, the spontaneous freezing transition of 2D liquid water within hydrophobic nanoslits is demonstrated for the first time using first-principles MD simulations. Various 2D ices are observed under different lateral pressure and temperature conditions. Notably, the liquid water confined to a 6.0 Å-wide nanoslit can spontaneously freeze into a monolayer ice consisting of an array of zigzag water chains at 2.5 GPa and 250 K. Moreover, within an 8.0 Å-wide nanoslit and at 4.0 GPa and 300 K, a previously unreported bilayer ice forms spontaneously that has a structure resembling that of the double surface layers of bulk ice-VII. Both 2D crystalline ices do not obey the ice rule, suggesting first-principles simulation can access a certain phase space that is not easily approached using classical simulations.

Gas hydrates in confined space of nanoporous materials: new frontier in gas storage technology

Gas hydrates (clathrate hydrates, clathrates, or hydrates) are crystalline inclusion compounds composed of water and gas molecules. Methane hydrates, the most well-known gas hydrates, are considered a menace in flow assurance. However, they have also been hailed as an alternative energy resource because of their high methane storage capacity. Since the formation of gas hydrates generally requires extreme conditions, developing porous material hosts to synthesize gas hydrates with less-demanding constraints is a topic of great interest to the materials and energy science communities. Though reports of modeling and experimental analysis of bulk gas hydrates are plentiful in the literature, reliable phase data for gas hydrates within confined spaces of nanoporous media have been sporadic. This review examines recent studies of both experiments and theoretical modeling of gas hydrates within four categories of nanoporous material hosts that include porous carbons, metal-organic frameworks, graphene nanoslits, and carbon nanotubes. We identify challenges associated with these porous systems and discuss the prospects of gas hydrates in confined space for potential applications.

Phase-dependent friction of nanoconfined water meniscus

A water meniscus naturally forms under ambient conditions at the point of contact between a nanoscale tip and an atomically flat substrate. Here, we study the effect of the phase state of this nanoscale meniscus-consisting of coexisting monolayer, bilayer and trilayer phase domains-on the frictional behavior during tip sliding by means of molecular dynamics simulations. While the meniscus experiences a domain-by-domain liquid-to-solid phase transition induced by lateral compression, we observe an evident transition in measured friction curves from continuous sliding to stick-slip and meanwhile a gradual increase in friction forces. Moreover, the stick-slip friction can be modulated by varying lattice orientation of the monolayer ice domain in the meniscus, choosing the sliding direction or applying in-plane strains to the substrate. Our results shed light on the rational design of high-performance micro- and nano-electromechanical systems relying on hydration lubrication.

Electric field-induced gas dissolving in aqueous solutions

Gas dissolution or accumulation regulating in an aqueous environment is important but difficult in various fields. Here, we performed all-atom molecular dynamics simulations to study the dissolution/accumulation of gas molecules in aqueous solutions. It was found that the distribution of gas molecules at the solid-water interface is regulated by the direction of the external electric field. Gas molecules attach and accumulate to the interface with an electric field parallel to the interface, while the gas molecules depart and dissolve into the aqueous solutions with a vertical electric field. The above phenomena can be attributed to the redistribution of water molecules as a result of the change of hydrogen bonds of water molecules at the interface as affected by the electric field. This finding reveals a new mechanism of regulating gas accumulation and dissolution in aqueous solutions and can have tremendous applications in the synthesis of drugs, the design of microfluidic device, and the extraction of natural gas.

Computational Prediction of Novel Ice Phases: A Perspective

Although computational prediction of new ice phases is a niche field in water science, the scientific subject itself is representative of two important areas in physical chemistry, namely, statistical thermodynamics and molecular simulations. The prediction of a variety of novel ice phases has also attracted general public interest since the 1980s. In particular, the prediction of low-dimensional ice phases has gained momentum since the confirmation of a number of low-dimensional "computer ice" phases in the laboratory over the past decade. In this Perspective, the research advancements in computational prediction of novel ice phases over the past few years are reviewed. Particular attention is placed on new ice phases whose physical properties or dimensional structures are distinctly different from conventional bulk ices. Specific topics include the (i) formation of superionic ices, (ii) electrofreezing of water under high pressure and in a high external electric field, (iii) prediction of low-density porous ice at strongly negative pressure, (iv) ab initio computational study of two-dimensional (2D) ice under nanoscale confinement, and (v) 2D ices formed on a solid surface near ambient temperature without nanoscale confinement. Clearly, the formation of most of these novel ice phases demands certain extreme conditions. Ongoing challenges and new opportunities for predicting new ice phases from either classical molecular dynamics simulation or high-level ab initio computation are discussed.

A novel degradation mechanism of the elastic modulus of wet polymer substrates under nanoindentation

We demonstrated that the formation and solidification of a continuous confined water film played a very important role in changing the elastic modulus of the wet polymer substrate in a nanoindentation process by a coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation of this process. It was found that as the water content increased, the elastic modulus of the wet polymer substrate showed a non-monotonic change. Relative to the dry polymer substrate, the elastic modulus of the wet polymer first decreased. This is because the appearance of a confined water film caused the force between the polymer substrate and the indenter to change from repulsion to attraction. Subsequently, as the confined water film gradually solidified and then weakened, the elastic modulus of the wet polymer slowly increased and then rapidly increased due to a large number of interstitial water molecules gradually penetrating the polymer substrate. Therefore, it is unreasonable to explain the wet polymer degradation during nanoindentation only from the plasticization and anti-plasticization effects based on the hydrogen bond breaking and formation during stretching. The above-mentioned results will help to more comprehensively understand the degradation mechanism of the polymers' encounter with water, thus promoting further practical applications for polymers.

Electric Field Induced Dewetting of Hydrophobic Nanocavities at Ambient Temperature

The understanding of water dewetting in nanoporous materials is of great importance in various fields of science and technology. Herein, we report molecular dynamics simulation results of dewetting of water droplet in hydrophobic nanocavities between graphene walls under the influence of electric field. At ambient temperature, the rate of dewetting induced by electric field is significantly large. Whereas, it is a very low rate of dewetting induced by high temperature (423 K) due to the strong interaction of the hydrogen-bonding networks of water droplets in nanocavities. In addition, the electric filed induced formation of a water column has been found in a vacuum chamber. When the electric field is turned off, the water column will transform into a water droplet. Importantly, the results demonstrate that the rate of electric field-induced dewetting increases with growth of the electric field. Overall, our results suggest that electric field may have a great potential application for nanomaterial dewetting.

Two-dimensional hydrogen hydrates: structure and stability

The structure and stability of two-dimensional hydrogen hydrate were investigated in this work using density functional theory. The results are in line with expectations that the occupied cages are more stable after their confinement between two parallel hydrophobic sheets. The four two-dimensional hydrogen hydrate crystals - BLHH-I, BLHH-II, BLHH-III and BLHH-IV - that we predicted were much more stable in a restricted environment than in a free environment, even close to or exceeding conventional hydrogen hydrates. Besides, we found that the stability of two-dimensional hydrates is inversely related to the increase in temperature. Our work highlights that two-dimensional hydrates provide a new research idea in the field of hydrogen storage.

Closest-Packing Water Monolayer Stably Intercalated in Phyllosilicate Minerals under High Pressure

The directional hydrogen-bond (HB) network and nondirectional van der Waals (vdW) interactions make up the specificity of water. Directional HBs could construct an ice-like monolayer in hydrophobic confinement even in the ambient regime. Here, we report a water monolayer dominated by vdW interactions confined in a phyllosilicate interlayer under high pressure. Surprisingly, it was in a thermodynamically stable state coupled with bulk water at the same pressure (P) and temperature (T), as revealed by the thermodynamic integration approach on the basis of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Both classical and ab initio MD simulations showed water O atoms were stably trapped and exhibited an ordered hexagonal closest-packing arrangement, but OH bonds of water reoriented frequently and exhibited a specific two-stage reorientation relaxation. Strikingly, hydration in the interlayer under high pressure had no relevance with surface hydrophilicity rationalized by the HB forming ability, which, however, determines wetting in the ambient regime. Intercalated water molecules were trapped by vdW interactions, which shaped the closest-packing arrangement and made hydration energetically available. The high pressure-volume term largely drives hydration, as it compensates the entropy penalty which is restricted by a relatively lower temperature. This vdW water monolayer should be ubiquitous in the high pressure but low-temperature regime.

Replica exchange MD simulations of two-dimensional water in graphene nanocapillaries: rhombic versus square structures, proton ordering, and phase transitions

The hydrogen bond patterns, proton ordering, and phase transitions of monolayer ice in two-dimensional hydrophobic confinement are fundamentally different from those found for bulk ice. To investigate the behavior of quasi-2D ice, we perform molecular dynamics simulations of water confined between fixed graphene plates at a distance of 0.65 nm. While experimental results are still limited and theoretical investigations are often based on a single, often empirically based force field model, this work presents a systematic study modeling the water-graphene interaction by effective Lennard-Jones potentials previously derived from high-level ab initio CCSD(T) calculations of water adsorbed on graphene [Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2013, 15, 4995]. For the water-water interaction different water force fields, i.e. SPCE, TIP3P, TIP4P, TIP4P/ICE, and TIP5P, are used. The water occupancy of the graphene capillary at a pressure of 1000 MPa is determined to be between 13.5 and 13.9 water molecules per square nanometer, depending on the choice of the water force field. Based on these densities, we explore the structure and dynamics of quasi-2D water for temperatures ranging from 200 K to about 600 K for each of the five force fields. To ensure complete sampling of the configurational space and to overcome the barriers separating metastable structures, these simulations are based on the replica exchange molecular dynamics technique. We report different tetragonal hydrogen bond patterns, which are classified as nearly square or as rhombic. While many of these arrangements are essentially flat, in some cases puckered arrangements are found, too. Also the proton ordering of the quasi-2D water structures is considered, allowing us to identify them as ferroelectric, ferrielectric or antiferroelectric. For temperatures between 200 K and 400 K we find several second-order phase transitions from one ice structure to another, changing in many cases both the arrangements of the oxygen atoms and the proton ordering. For temperatures between 400 K and 600 K there are melting-like transitions from a monolayer of ice to a monolayer of liquid water. These first-order phase transitions have a latent heat between 3.4 and 4.0 kJ mol^-1. Both the values of the transition temperatures and of the latent heats display considerable model dependence for the five different water models investigated here.

Direct observation of 2-dimensional ices on different surfaces near room temperature without confinement

Water-solid interfaces play important roles in a wide range of fields, including atmospheric science, geochemistry, electrochemistry, and food science. Herein, we report simulation evidence of 2-dimensional (2D) ice formation on various surfaces and the dependence of the 2D crystalline structure on the hydrophobicity and morphology of the underlying surface. Contrary to the prevailing view that nanoscale confinement is necessary for the 2D liquid-to-bilayer ice transition, we find that the liquid-to-bilayer hexagonal ice (BHI) transition can occur either on a model smooth surface or on model fcc-crystal surfaces with indices of (100), (110), and (111) near room temperature. We identify a critical parameter that characterizes the water-surface interaction, above which the BHI can form on the surface. This critical parameter increases as the temperature increases. Even at temperatures above the freezing temperature of bulk ice (Ih ), we find that BHI can also form on a superhydrophilic surface due to the strong water-surface interaction. The tendency toward the formation of BHI without confinement reflects a proper water-surface interaction that can compensate for the entropy loss during the freezing transition. Furthermore, phase diagrams of 2D ice formation are described on the plane of the adsorption energy versus the fcc lattice constant (Eads-afcc), where 4 monolayer square-like ices are also identified on the fcc model surfaces with distinct water-surface interactions.

An ultralow-density porous ice with the largest internal cavity identified in the water phase diagram

The recent back-to-back findings of low-density porous ice XVI and XVII have rekindled the century-old field of the solid-state physics and chemistry of water. Experimentally, both ice XVI and XVII crystals can be produced by extracting guest atoms or molecules enclosed in the cavities of preformed ice clathrate hydrates. Herein, we examine more than 200 hypothetical low-density porous ices whose structures were generated according to a database of zeolite structures. Hitherto unreported porous EMT ice, named according to zeolite nomenclature, is identified to have an extremely low density of 0.5 g/cm3 and the largest internal cavity (7.88 Å in average radius). The EMT ice can be viewed as dumbbell-shaped motifs in a hexagonal close-packed structure. Our first-principles computations and molecular dynamics simulations confirm that the EMT ice is stable under negative pressures and exhibits higher thermal stability than other ultralow-density ices. If all cavities are fully occupied by hydrogen molecules, the EMT ice hydrate can easily outperform the record hydrogen storage capacity of 5.3 wt % achieved with sII hydrogen hydrate. Most importantly, in the reconstructed temperature-pressure (T-P) phase diagram of water, the EMT ice is located at deeply negative pressure regions below ice XVI and at higher temperature regions next to FAU. Last, the phonon spectra of empty-sII, FAU, EMT, and other zeolite-like ice structures are computed by using the dispersion corrected vdW-DF2 functional. Compared with those of ice XI (0.93 g/cm3), both the bending and stretching vibrational modes of the EMT ice are blue-shifted due to their weaker hydrogen bonds.

Anomalous Stability of Two-Dimensional Ice Confined in Hydrophobic Nanopores

The freezing of water mostly proceeds via heterogeneous ice nucleation, a process in which an effective nucleation medium not only expedites ice crystallization but also may effectively direct the polymorph selection of ice. Here, we show that water confined within a hydrophobic slit nanopore exhibits a freezing behavior strongly distinguished from its bulk counterpart. Such a difference is reflected by a strong, non-monotonic pore-size dependence of freezing temperature but, more surprisingly, by an unexpected stacking ordering of crystallized two-dimensional ice containing just a few ice layers. In particular, confined trilayer ice is found to exclusively crystallize into a well-ordered, hexagonal stacking sequence despite the fact that nanopore exerts no explicit constraint on stacking order. The absence of cubic stacking sequence is found to be originated from the intrinsically lower thermodynamic stability of cubic ice over hexagonal ice at the interface, which contrasts sharply the nearly degenerated stability of bulk hexagonal and cubic ices. Detailed examination clearly reveals that the divergence is attributed to the inherent difference between the two ice polymorphs in their surface phonon modes, which is further found to generically occur at both hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces.

Factors Promoting the Formation of Clathrate-Like Ordering of Water in Biomolecular Structure at Ambient Temperature and Pressure

Clathrate hydrate forms when a hydrophobic molecule is entrapped inside a water cage or cavity. Although biomolecular structures also have hydrophobic patches, clathrate-like water is found in only a limited number of biomolecules. Also, while clathrate hydrates form at low temperature and moderately higher pressure, clathrate-like water is observed in biomolecular structure at ambient temperature and pressure. These indicate presence of other factors along with hydrophobic environment behind the formation of clathrate-like water in biomolecules. In the current study, we presented a systematic approach to explore the factors behind the formation of clathrate-like water in biomolecules by means of molecular dynamics simulation of a model protein, maxi, which is a naturally occurring nanopore and has clathrate-like water inside the pore. Removal of either confinement or hydrophobic environment results in the disappearance of clathrate-like water ordering, indicating a coupled role of these two factors. Apart from these two factors, clathrate-like water ordering also requires anchoring groups that can stabilize the clathrate-like water through hydrogen bonding. Our results uncover crucial factors for the stabilization of clathrate-like ordering in biomolecular structure which can be used for the development of new biomolecular structure promoting clathrate formation.

Hexagonal Monolayer Ice without Shared Edges

When adsorbed on solids, water molecules are usually arranged into a honeycomb hydrogen-bond network. Here we report the discovery of a novel monolayer ice built exclusively from water hexamers but without shared edges, distinct from all conventional ice phases. Water grown on graphite crystalizes into a robust monolayer ice after annealing, attaining an exceedingly high density of 0.134  Å^{-2}. Unlike chemisorbed ice on metal surfaces, the ice monolayer can translate and rotate on graphite terraces and grow across steps, confirming its two-dimensional nature. First-principles calculations identify the monolayer ice structure as a robust self-assembly of closely packed water hexamers without edge sharing, whose stability is maintained by maximizing the number of intralayer hydrogen bonds on inert surfaces.

Molecular Insights into the Unusual Structure of an Antifreeze Protein with a Hydrated Core

The primary driving force for protein folding is the formation of a well-packed, anhydrous core. However, recently, the crystal structure of an antifreeze protein, maxi, has been resolved where the core of the protein is filled with water, which apparently contradicts the existing notion of protein folding. Here, we have performed standard molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, replica exchange MD (REMD) simulation, and umbrella sampling using TIP4P water at various temperatures (300, 260, and 240 K) to explore the origin of this unusual structural feature. It is evident from standard MD and REMD simulations that the protein is found to be stable at 240 K in its unusual state. The core of protein has two layers of semi-clathrate water separating the methyl groups of alanine residues from different helical strands. However, with increasing temperature (260 and 300 K), the stability decreases as the core becomes dehydrated, and methyl groups of alanine are tightly packed driven by hydrophobic interactions. Calculation of the potential of mean force by an umbrella sampling technique between a pair of model hydrophobes resembling maxi protein at 240 K shows the stabilization of second solvent-separated minima (SSM), which provides a thermodynamic rationale of the unusual structural feature in terms of weakening of the hydrophobic interaction. Because the stabilization of SSMs is implicated for cold denaturation, it suggests that the maxi protein is so designed by nature where the cold denatured-like state becomes the biologically active form as it works near or below the freezing point of water.

Two-dimensional dry ices with rich polymorphic and polyamorphic phase behavior

Both carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) are triatomic molecules that are ubiquitous in nature, and both are among the five most abundant gases in the Earth's atmosphere. At low temperature and ambient pressure, both CO2 and H2O form molecular crystals--dry ice I and ice I h Because water possesses distinctive hydrogen bonds, it exhibits intricate and highly pressure-dependent phase behavior, including at least 17 crystalline ice phases and three amorphous ice phases. In contrast, due to its weak van der Waals intermolecular interactions, CO2 exhibits fewer crystalline phases except at extremely high pressures, where nonmolecular ordered structures arise. Herein, we show the molecular dynamics simulation results of numerous 2D polymorphs of CO2 molecules in slit nanopores. Unlike bulk polymorphs of CO2, 2D CO2 polymorphs exhibit myriad crystalline and amorphous structures, showing remarkable polymorphism and polyamorphism. We also show that depending on the thermodynamic path, 2D solid-to-solid phase transitions can give rise to previously unreported structures, e.g., wave-like amorphous CO2 structures. Our simulation also suggests intriguing structural connections between 2D and 3D dry ice phases (e.g., Cmca and PA-3) and offers insights into CO2 polyamorphic transitions through intermediate liquid or amorphous phases.

Why different water models predict different structures under 2D confinement

Experiments of nanoconfined water between graphene sheets at high pressure suggest that it forms a square ice structure (Algara-Siller et al., Nature, 2015, 519, 443). Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been used to attempt to recreate this structure, but there have been discrepancies in the structure formed by the confined water depending on the simulation set-up that was employed and particularly on the choice of water model. Here, using classical molecular dynamics simulations, we have systematically investigated the effect that three different water models (SPC/E, TIP4P/2005 and TIP5P) have on the structure of water confined between two rigid graphene sheets with a 0.9 nm separation. We show that the TIP4P/2005 and the TIP5P water models form a hexagonal AA-stacked structure, whereas the SPC/E model forms a rhombic AB-stacked structure. Our work demonstrates that the formation of these structures is driven by differences in the strength of hydrogen bonds predicted by the three water models, and that the nature of the graphene/water interaction only mildly affects the phase diagram. Considering the available experimental data and first-principle simulations we conclude that, among the models tested, the TIP4P/2005 and TIP5P force fields are for now the most reliable when simulating water under confinement. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Anomalous cation diffusion in salt-doped confined bilayer ice

The diffusive dynamics of aqueous electrolyte solutions in nanoconfined spaces has attracted considerable attention due to their potential applications in desalination, biosensors and supercapacitors. Here we show by molecular dynamics simulations that lithium and sodium ions diffuse at a rate at least an order of magnitude higher than that of water molecules when the ions are trapped in an ice bilayer confined between two parallel plates. This novel picture is in sharp contrast to the prevailing view that the diffusion rate of ions is comparable to or even lower than that of water in both bulk and confined solutions. The predicted high ion mobility stems from frequent lateral hopping of ions along the coordination sites inside the hydrogen-bonding network connecting the two water layers of the ice bilayer. This anomalous diffusion should provide new insights into the physics of confined aqueous electrolytes.

Phase behaviors of deeply supercooled bilayer water unseen in bulk water

Akin to bulk water, water confined to an isolated nanoslit can show a wealth of new 2D phases of ice and amorphous ice, as well as unusual phase behavior. Indeed, 2D water phases, such as bilayer hexagonal ice and monolayer square ice, have been detected in the laboratory, confirming earlier computational predictions. Herein, we report theoretical evidence of a hitherto unreported state, namely, bilayer very low density amorphous ice (BL-VLDA), as well as evidence of a strong first-order transition between BL-VLDA and the BL amorphous ice (BL-A), and a weak first-order transition between BL-VLDA and the BL very low density liquid (BL-VLDL) water. The diffusivity of BL-VLDA is typically in the range of 10-9 cm2/s to 10-10 cm2/s. Similar to bulk (3D) water, 2D water can exhibit two forms of liquid in the deeply supercooled state. However, unlike supercooled bulk water, for which the two forms of liquid can coexist and merge into one at a critical point, the 2D BL-VLDL and BL high-density liquid (BL-HDL) phases are separated by the highly stable solid phase of BL-A whose melting line exhibits the isochore end point (IEP) near 220 K in the temperature-pressure diagram. Above the IEP temperature, BL-VLDL and BL-HDL are indistinguishable. At negative pressures, the metastable BL-VLDL exhibits a spatially and temporally heterogeneous structure induced by dynamic changes in the nanodomains, a feature much less pronounced in the BL-HDL.

Adsorption of Kinetic Hydrate Inhibitors on Growing Surfaces: A Molecular Dynamics Study

We investigate the mechanism of a typical kinetic hydrate inhibitor (KHI), polyvinylcaprolactam (PVCap), which has been applied to prevent hydrate plugs from forming in gas pipe lines, using molecular dynamics simulations of crystal growth of ethylene oxide hydrate. Water-soluble ethylene oxide is chosen as a guest species to avoid problems associated with the presence of the gas phase in the simulation cell such as slow crystal growth. A PVCap dodecamer adsorbs irreversibly on the hydrate surface which grows at supercooling of 3 K when the hydrophobic part of two pendent groups are trapped in open cages at the surface. The amide hydrogen bonds make no contribution to the adsorption. PVCap can adsorb on various crystallographic planes of sI hydrate. This is in contrast to antifreeze proteins, each of which prefers a specific plane of ice. The trapped PVCap gives rise to necessarily the concave surface of the hydrate. The crystal growth rate decreases with increasing surface curvature, indicating that the inhibition by PVCap is explained by the Gibbs-Thomson effect.

Simulations of water nano-confined between corrugated planes

Water confined to nanoscale widths in two dimensions between ideal planar walls has been the subject of ample study, aiming at understanding the intrinsic response of water to confinement, avoiding the consideration of the chemistry of actual confining materials. In this work, we study the response of such nanoconfined water to the imposition of a periodicity in the confinement by means of computer simulations, both using empirical potentials and from first-principles. For that we propose a periodic confining potential emulating the atomistic oscillation of the confining walls, which allows varying the lattice parameter and amplitude of the oscillation. We do it for a triangular lattice, with several values of the lattice parameter: one which is ideal for commensuration with layers of Ih ice and other values that would correspond to more realistic substrates. For the former, the phase diagram shows an overall rise of the melting temperature. The liquid maintains a bi-layer triangular structure, however, despite the fact that it is not favoured by the external periodicity. The first-principles liquid is significantly affected by the modulation in its layering and stacking even at relatively small amplitudes of the confinement modulation. Beyond some critical modulation amplitude, the hexatic phase present in flat confinement is replaced by a trilayer crystalline phase unlike any of the phases encountered for flat confinement. For more realistic lattice parameters, the liquid does not display higher tendency to freeze, but it clearly shows inhomogeneous behaviour as the strength of the rugosity increases. In spite of this expected inhomogeneity, the structural and dynamical response of the liquid is surprisingly insensitive to the external modulation. Although the first-principles calculations give a more triangular liquid than the one observed with empirical potentials (TIP4P/2005), both agree remarkably well for the main conclusions of the study.

Confined Water: Structure, Dynamics, and Thermodynamics

Understanding the properties of strongly confined water is important for a variety of applications such as fast flow and desalination devices, voltage generation, flow sensing, and nanofluidics. Confined water also plays an important role in many biological processes such as flow through ion channels. Water in the bulk exhibits many unusual properties that arise primarily from the presence of a network of hydrogen bonds. Strong confinement in structures such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) substantially modifies the structural, thermodynamic, and dynamic (both translational and orientational) properties of water by changing the structure of the hydrogen bond network. In this Account, we provide an overview of the behavior of water molecules confined inside CNTs and slit pores between graphene and graphene oxide (GO) sheets. Water molecules confined in narrow CNTs are arranged in a single file and exhibit solidlike ordering at room temperature due to strong hydrogen bonding between nearest-neighbor molecules. Although molecules constrained to move along a line are expected to exhibit single-file diffusion in contrast to normal Fickian diffusion, we show, from a combination of molecular dynamics simulations and analytic calculations, that water molecules confined in short and narrow CNTs with open ends exhibit Fickian diffusion because of their collective motion as a single unit due to strong hydrogen bonding. Confinement leads to strong anisotropy in the orientational relaxation of water molecules. The time scale of relaxation of the dipolar correlations of water molecules arranged in a single file becomes ultraslow, of the order of several nanoseconds, compared with the value of 2.5 ps for bulk water. In contrast, the relaxation of the vector that joins the two hydrogens in a water molecule is much faster, with a time scale of about 150 fs, which is about 10 times shorter than the corresponding time scale for bulk water. This is a rare example of confinement leading to a speedup of orientational dynamics. The orientational relaxation of confined water molecules proceeds by angular jumps between two locally stable states, making the relaxation qualitatively different from that expected in the diffusive limit. The spontaneous entry of water inside the hydrophobic cavity of CNTs is primarily driven by an increase in the rotational entropy of water molecules inside the cavity, arising from a reduction in the average number of hydrogen bonds attached to a water molecule. From simulations using a variety of water models, we demonstrate that the relatively simple SPC/E water model yields results in close agreement with those obtained from polarizable water models. Finally, we provide an account of the structure and thermodynamics of water confined in the slit pore between two GO sheets with both oxidized and reduced parts. We show that the potential of mean force for the oxidized part of GO sheets in the presence of water exhibits two local minima, one corresponding to a dry cavity and the other corresponding to a fully hydrated cavity. The coexistence of these two regimes provides permeation pathways for water in GO membranes.

Structure and dynamics of water confined in a graphene nanochannel under gigapascal high pressure: dependence of friction on pressure and confinement

The friction coefficient at the water/graphene interface is dependent on the lateral pressure and nanochannel height under gigapascal high-pressure.

CO Separation from H2 via Hydrate Formation in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Hydrogen is an alternative fuel without generating greenhouse gas or other harmful emissions. Industrial hydrogen production, however, always contains a small fraction of carbon monoxide (CO) (∼0.5-2%) that must be removed for use in fuel cells. Here, we present molecular dynamics simulation evidence on facile separation of CO from H₂ at ambient pressure via the formation of quasi-one-dimensional (Q1D) clathrate hydrates within single-walled carbon nanotubes (SW-CNTs). At ambient pressure, Q1D CO (or H₂) clathrates in SW-CNTs are formed spontaneously when the SW-CNTs are immersed in CO (or H₂) aqueous solution. More interestingly, for the CO/H₂ aqueous solution, highly preferential adsorption of CO over H₂ occurs within the octagonal or nonagonal ice nanotubes inside of SW-CNTs. These results suggest that the formation of Q1D hydrates within SW-CNTs can be a viable and safe method for the separation of CO from H₂, which can be exploited for hydrogen purification in fuel cells.

Buckling failure of square ice-nanotube arrays constrained in graphene nanocapillaries

Graphene confinement provides a new physical and mechanical environment with ultrahigh van der Waals pressure, resulting in new quasi-two-dimensional phases of few-layer ice. Polymorphic transition can occur in bilayer constrained water/ice system. Here, we perform a comprehensive study of the phase transition of AA-stacked bilayer water constrained within a graphene nanocapillary. The compression-limit and superheating-limit (phase) diagrams are obtained, based on the extensive molecular-dynamics simulations at numerous thermodynamic states. Liquid-to-solid, solid-to-solid, and solid-to-liquid-to-solid phase transitions are observed in the compression and superheating of bilayer water. Interestingly, there is a temperature threshold (∼275 K) in the compression-limit diagram, which indicates that the first-order and continuous-like phase transitions of bilayer water depend on the temperature. Two obviously different physical processes, compression and superheating, display similar structural evolution; that is, square ice-nanotube arrays (BL-VHDI) will bend first and then transform into bilayer triangular AA stacking ice (BL-AAI). The superheating limit of BL-VHDI exhibits local maxima, while that of BL-AAI increases monotonically. More importantly, from a mechanics point of view, we propose a novel mechanism of the transformation from BL-VHDI to BL-AAI, both for the compression and superheating limits. This structural transformation can be regarded as the "buckling failure" of the square-ice-nanotube columns, which is dominated by the lateral pressure.