Interfacial Free Energy as the Key to the Pressure-Induced Deceleration of Ice Nucleation
Interfacial Free Energy as the Key to the Pressure-Induced Deceleration of Ice Nucleation
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DOI：
10.1103/physrevlett.117.135702
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发表时间：
2016-09-21
影响因子：
8.6
通讯作者：
Sanz, Eduardo
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Espinosa, Jorge R.;Zaragoza, Alberto;Sanz, Eduardo
避免水结冰是生物样本、食物和器官冷冻保存的圣杯。快速冷却速率用于阻止冰核形成并避免细胞损伤。可以通过施加高压来降低成核率来增强该策略，但该过程背后的物理原理尚未完全了解。我们进行计算机实验来研究高压下的冰成核，包括将冰种子嵌入过冷水中。我们发现成核速率的减慢主要是由于冰-水界面自由能随压力的增加而增加。我们的工作还阐明了宽压力范围内冰成核的分子机制。这项研究不仅与低温保存有关，还与水非晶化和气候变化建模有关。
The avoidance of water freezing is the holy grail in the cryopreservation of biological samples, food, and organs. Fast cooling rates are used to beat ice nucleation and avoid cell damage. This strategy can be enhanced by applying high pressures to decrease the nucleation rate, but the physics behind this procedure has not been fully understood yet. We perform computer experiments to investigate ice nucleation at high pressures consisting in embedding ice seeds in supercooled water. We find that the slowing down of the nucleation rate is mainly due to an increase of the ice I- water interfacial free energy with pressure. Our work also clarifies the molecular mechanism of ice nucleation for a wide pressure range. This study is not only relevant to cryopreservation, but also to water amorphization and climate change modeling.