The Shape of Water: Wetting and Beyond

水是地球上最丰富的分子，但液态水的形状仍然让科学界感到困惑。水的经典描述由平均每个水分子通过氢键与四面体图案中的四个其他分子组成。迄今为止，这种结构已成为理解表面润湿的基础，这需要有限尺寸的液滴与特征表面接触来测量其接触角。申请人最近在液滴水下润湿动力学方面的开创性工作揭示了液滴和浸没特征表面之间存在纳米级薄水膜，强调了界面水层在润湿动力学中的重要性。 ******拟议的研究计划建立在液下液滴动力学的这些进展的基础上，利用通过该计划开发的最先进的实验和计算工具，获得对界面水层内受限水分子形状的新的、基本的理解。它将探索这种受限水分子的新量子特性。这项由实验、理论和计算工作组成的基础研究将为对润湿现象的新理解铺平道路，特别是在新兴的二维材料的背景下，它可以为受限水分子的量子行为提供新的见解。这将具有广泛的工程应用，从制造具有防污性能的高效防水表面（例如，船体）到用于海水淡化的膜（例如，通过拒绝溶解的盐来提供清洁水的新来源），甚至创建新的量子计算方法（例如，在室温下使用水分子进行计算）。 ******该研究项目将培养11名高素质人才，包括博士后、研究生和高年级本科生，目标是打造一支基础科学与工程应用研究无缝结合的训练有素的劳动力队伍。它将为加拿大战略优先领域（先进制造、环境和信息通信技术）培养熟练劳动力提供重要机会。该研究成果将为研究界提供关于润湿和界面水重要性的新视角，从而为申请人建立“量子润湿”的新研究方向。这项综合研究计划将使加拿大成为开发和表征具有可调润湿性能的下一代材料的国际领导者，并将推动申请人的研究小组走在润湿界的最前沿。

Water is the most abundant molecule on earth, yet the shape of liquid water continues to mystify the scientific community. Classical depictions of water consist of each water molecule on an average bonded to four others in a tetrahedral motif by hydrogen bonding. To date, this structure has been the foundation for understanding wetting of surfaces, which requires a finite size liquid drop in contact with the characterizing surface to measure its contact angle. The applicant's recent pioneering work on underwater wetting dynamics of liquid drops revealed the existence of a nano-scale thin water film between the drop and the submerged characterizing surface, underscoring the importance of the interfacial water layer in wetting dynamics. ******The proposed research program builds upon these advances in under-liquid drop dynamics to gain new, fundamental understanding of the shape of the confined water molecules within interfacial water layers using state-of-art experimental and computational tools developed through this program. It will explore new quantum properties for such confined water molecules. This fundamental research consisting of experimental, theoretical and computational work will pave the way for a new understanding of wetting phenomena, particularly in the context of new emerging two-dimensional materials, and it could provide new insight into the quantum behaviour of confined water molecules. This would have a wide variety of engineering applications ranging from fabricating efficient water-repellant surfaces with antifouling properties (e.g., ship hulk) to membranes for water desalination (e.g., providing new source for clean water by rejecting dissolved salts) and even creating new ways of quantum computing (e.g., using water molecules at room temperature to perform computation). ******The research program will train eleven highly qualified personnel including post-doctoral fellows, graduate students and senior undergraduate students with a goal to create a trained workforce based on seamless integration of fundamental science with applied research in engineering. It would provide significant opportunities to develop skilled workforce in Canada's strategic priority areas (Advanced Manufacturing, Environment, and ICT). The research outcomes will provide the research community with new perspectives on wetting and the importance of interfacial water, thereby establishing a new research direction on “quantum wetting” for the applicant. This comprehensive research program will position Canada as an international leader in developing and characterizing the next-generation materials with tunable wetting properties and will propel the applicant's research group to the forefront of the wetting community.