Relaxation Time of Confined Aqueous Films under Shear

Abnormal Properties of Low-Dimensional Confined Water

Water molecules confined to low-dimensional spaces exhibit unusual properties compared to bulk water. For example, the alternating hydrophilic and hydrophobic nanodomains on flat silicon wafer can induce the abnormal spreading of water (contact angles near 0°) which is caused by the 2D capillary effect. Hence, exploring the physicochemical properties of confined water from the nanoscale is of great value for understanding the challenges in material science and promoting the applications of nanomaterials in the fields of mass transport, nanofluidic designing, and fuel cell. The knowledge framework of confined water can also help to better understand the complex functions of the hydration layer of biomolecules, and even trace the origin of life. In this review, the physical properties, abnormal behaviors, and functions of the confined water are mainly summarized through several common low-dimensional water formats in the fields of solid/air-water interface, nanochannel confinement, and biological hydration layer. These researches indicate that the unusual behaviors of the confined water depend strongly on the confinement size and the interaction between the molecules and confining surface. These diverse properties of confined water open a new door to materials science and may play an important role in the future development of biology.

Correlation function approach for diffusion in confined geometries

This paper describes a formalism for extracting spatially varying transport coefficients from simulations of a molecular fluid in a nanochannel. This approach is applied to self-diffusion of a Lennard-Jones fluid confined between two parallel surfaces. A numerical grid is laid over the domain confining the fluid, and fluid properties are projected onto the grid cells. The time correlation functions between properties in different grid cells are calculated and can be used as the basis for a fitting procedure for extracting spatially varying diffusion coefficients from the simulation. Results for the Lennard-Jones system show that transport behavior varies sharply near the liquid-solid boundary and that the changes depend on the details of the liquid-solid interaction. A quantitative difference between the reduced and detailed models is discussed. It is found that the difference could be associated with assumptions about the form of the transport equations at molecular scales in lieu of problems with the method itself. The study suggests that this approach to fitting molecular simulations to continuum equations may guide the development of appropriate coarse-grained equations to model transport phenomena at nanometer scales.

Unraveling the water states of waste-activated sludge through transverse spin-spin relaxation time of low-field NMR

The physical states of water are crucial for the dewatering efficiency of waste-activated sludge (WAS). However, to date, there is still lack of promising methods for the distinct differentiation of water states in colloidal microbial aggregates. This study proposed that the transverse spin-spin relaxation time (T₂) distribution of low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) could be a useful tool to unravel the occurrence state of water in WAS. Due to the different interaction strengths of protons with the surrounding environment, the three water states with different T₂ ranges were identified. The water strongly trapped on the surface of solid phase through hydrogen bound could be classified as vicinal water; interstitial water refers to the water physically trapped in bio-floc by steric hindrance or adsorption; and the water that is least affected by solid compositions is categorized as moderately mobile water. The potential ways of typical conditioning approaches for shifting water states were also investigated. The removal of hydrophilic compounds in extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and surface charge neutralization were both found to be possible ways to influence the percentage of vicinal water (Pearson correlation coefficient R_p > 0.950, p-value ≤ 0.05). The disintegration or compaction of colloidal microbial aggregates could induce the transformation of interstitial water into moderately mobile water. All the above results are believed to deepen the mechanism insights into the differentiation and interactive transformation of water states in bio-floc of WAS.

Anomalous Potential-Dependent Friction on Au(111) Measured by AFM

We present an exploratory study of the tribological properties between an AFM probe and a Au(111) surface in an aqueous environment while subjected to applied surface potentials. Using a three-electrode setup, the electrical potential and interfacial electric field on a Au(111) working electrode are controlled. Lateral force microscopy is used to measure the friction forces between the AFM probe and the Au surface. As the AFM probe approaches the surface, normal forces are also measured to gain insight into the interfacial forces. When a positive potential is applied to the Au surface, the friction is found to rise sharply at a critical potential and level off at a relatively high value. However, when a negative potential is applied, the friction forces are low, even lower compared to the open circuit potential case. These changes in friction, by a factor of approximately 35, as a function of the applied potential are found to be reversible over multiple cycles. We attribute the origin of the high friction at positive potentials to the formation of a highly confined, ordered icelike water layer at the Au/electrolyte interface that results in effective hydrogen bonding with the AFM probe. At negative potentials, the icelike water layer is disrupted, resulting in the water molecules acting as boundary lubricants and providing low friction. Such friction experiments can provide valuable insight into the structure and properties of water at charged surfaces under various conditions and can potentially impact a variety of technologies relying on molecular-level friction such as MEMs.

Confinement effects in premelting dynamics

We examine the effects of confinement on the dynamics of premelted films driven by thermomolecular pressure gradients. Our approach is to modify a well-studied setting in which the thermomolecular pressure gradient is driven by a temperature gradient parallel to an interfacially premelted elastic wall. The modification treats the increase in viscosity associated with the thinning of films, studied in a wide variety of materials, using a power law and we examine the consequent evolution of the confining elastic wall. We treat (1) a range of interactions that are known to underlie interfacial premelting and (2) a constant temperature gradient wherein the thermomolecular pressure gradient is a constant. The difference between the cases with and without the proximity effect arises in the volume flux of premelted liquid. The proximity effect increases the viscosity as the film thickness decreases thereby requiring the thermomolecular pressure driven flux to be accommodated at higher temperatures where the premelted film thickness is the largest. Implications for experiment and observations of frost heave are discussed.

Ice-like water supports hydration forces and eases sliding friction

The nature of interfacial water is critical in several natural processes, including the aggregation of lipids into the bilayer, protein folding, lubrication of synovial joints, and underwater gecko adhesion. The nanometer-thin water layer trapped between two surfaces has been identified to have properties that are very different from those of bulk water, but the molecular cause of such discrepancy is often undetermined. Using surface-sensitive sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy, we discover a strongly coordinated water layer confined between two charged surfaces, formed by the adsorption of a cationic surfactant on the hydrophobic surfaces. By varying the adsorbed surfactant coverage and hence the surface charge density, we observe a progressively evolving water structure that minimizes the sliding friction only beyond the surfactant concentration needed for monolayer formation. At complete surfactant coverage, the strongly coordinated confined water results in hydration forces, sustains confinement and sliding pressures, and reduces dynamic friction. Observing SFG signals requires breakdown in centrosymmetry, and the SFG signal from two oppositely oriented surfactant monolayers cancels out due to symmetry. Surprisingly, we observe the SFG signal for the water confined between the two charged surfactant monolayers, suggesting that this interfacial water layer is noncentrosymmetric. The structure of molecules under confinement and its macroscopic manifestation on adhesion and friction have significance in many complicated interfacial processes prevalent in biology, chemistry, and engineering.

Commensurability Effects in Viscosity of Nanoconfined Water

The rate of water flow through hydrophobic nanocapillaries is greatly enhanced as compared to that expected from macroscopic hydrodynamics. This phenomenon is usually described in terms of a relatively large slip length, which is in turn defined by such microscopic properties as the friction between water and capillary surfaces and the viscosity of water. We show that the viscosity of water and, therefore, its flow rate are profoundly affected by the layered structure of confined water if the capillary size becomes less than 2 nm. To this end, we study the structure and dynamics of water confined between two parallel graphene layers using equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. We find that the shear viscosity is not only greatly enhanced for subnanometer capillaries, but also exhibits large oscillations that originate from commensurability between the capillary size and the size of water molecules. Such oscillating behavior of viscosity and, consequently, the slip length should be taken into account in designing and studying graphene-based and similar membranes for desalination and filtration.

Dynamics of confined water reconstructed from inelastic x-ray scattering measurements of bulk response functions

Nanoconfined water and surface-structured water impacts a broad range of fields. For water confined between hydrophilic surfaces, measurements and simulations have shown conflicting results ranging from "liquidlike" to "solidlike" behavior, from bulklike water viscosity to viscosity orders of magnitude higher. Here, we investigate how a homogeneous fluid behaves under nanoconfinement using its bulk response function: The Green's function of water extracted from a library of S(q,ω) inelastic x-ray scattering data is used to make femtosecond movies of nanoconfined water. Between two confining surfaces, the structure undergoes drastic changes as a function of surface separation. For surface separations of ≈9 Å, although the surface-associated hydration layers are highly deformed, they are separated by a layer of bulklike water. For separations of ≈6 Å, the two surface-associated hydration layers are forced to reconstruct into a single layer that modulates between localized "frozen' and delocalized "melted" structures due to interference of density fields. These results potentially reconcile recent conflicting experiments. Importantly, we find a different delocalized wetting regime for nanoconfined water between surfaces with high spatial frequency charge densities, where water is organized into delocalized hydration layers instead of localized hydration shells, and are strongly resistant to `freezing' down to molecular distances (<6 Å).

Quasistatic computer simulation study of the shear behavior of Bi- and trilayer water films confined between model hydrophilic surfaces

In this paper, our previous simulations of the shear behavior of confined water monolayers (Pertsin, A.; Grunze, M. Langmuir 2008, 24, 135) are extended to water films two and three monolayers thick. The shear response of the films is studied in the quasistatic regime corresponding to the infinitely low shear rate. In certain ranges of wall-to-wall separations, bilayer films are found to be capable of sustaining shear stress, as is characteristic of solids, while remaining fluidlike in respect of the lateral order and molecular mobility. The relation between the solidlike and fluidlike properties of the films is dependent on the relative alignment of the walls and on the period of the wall lattice. The films become more fluid when the walls are moved out of alignment and when the wall lattice is uniformly compressed or stretched with respect to the "optimum" lattice that favors crystal-like packing. Trilayer films do not sustain shear stress in the whole range of wall-to-wall separations where these films are formed.

Simultaneous normal and shear measurements of nanoconfined liquids in a fiber-based atomic force microscope

We have developed an atomic force microscopy (AFM) technique that can perform simultaneous normal and shear stiffness measurements of nanoconfined liquids with angstrom-range amplitudes. The AFM technique is based on a fiber-interferometric, small-amplitude, off-resonance AFM. This AFM is capable of providing linear quasistatic measurements of the local mechanical properties of confined liquid layers while only minimally disturbing the layers themselves. A detailed analysis of the measurement geometry reveals that shear stiffness measurements are extremely challenging, as even small deviations from perfect orthogonality can lead to data that is very difficult to interpret. We will show ways out of this dilemma and present results that show simultaneous measurement of the shear and normal stiffness of confined liquid layers.

A computer simulation study of stick-slip transitions in water films confined between model hydrophilic surfaces. 1. Monolayer films

The shear behavior of monolayer water films confined in a slit-like pore between hydrophilic walls is simulated in the quasistatic regime using the grand canonical Monte Carlo technique. Each wall is represented as a hexagonal lattice of force sites that interact with water through an orientation-dependent hydrogen-bonding potential. When the walls are in registry, the water oxygen atoms form either a crystal- or fluid-like structure, depending on the period of the wall's lattice. In both cases, however, the monolayer structure is orientationally disordered. Both the crystal- and fluid-like monolayers prove to be capable of experiencing well-defined stick-slip transitions, with the largest yield stress occurring in the crystal-like case. Beyond the yield point, the crystal-like monolayers "melt", but their structure and molecular motion differ in many respects from those characteristic of normal fluids.

Effects of adsorbed water layer structure on adhesion force of silicon oxide nanoasperity contact in humid ambient

The origin of the large relative-humidity (RH) dependence of the adhesion force in the single-asperity contact between silicon oxide surfaces is elucidated. As RH increases, the adhesion force measured with an atomic force microscopy (AFM) initially increases, reaches a maximum, and then decreases at high RH. The capillary force alone cannot explain the observed magnitude of the RH dependence. The origin of the large RH dependence is due to the presence of an icelike structured water adsorbed at the silicon oxide surface at room temperature. A solid-adsorbate-solid model is developed calculating the contributions from capillary forces, van der Waals interactions, and the rupture of an ice-ice bridge at the center of the contact region. This model illustrates how the structure, thickness, and viscoelastic behavior of the adsorbed water layer influence the adhesion force of the silicon oxide nanoasperity contact.

Understanding foods as soft materials

Foods make up some of the most complex examples of soft condensed matter (SCM) with which we interact daily. Their complexity arises from several factors: the intricacy of components, the different aggregation states in which foods are encountered, and the multitude of relevant characteristic time and length scales. Because foodstuffs are governed by the rules of SCM physics but with all the complications related to real systems, the experimental and theoretical approaches of SCM physics have deepened our comprehension of their nature and behaviour, but many questions remain. In this review we discuss the current understanding of food science, by considering established SCM methods as well as emerging techniques and theoretical approaches. With their complexity, heterogeneity and multitude of states, foods provide SCM physics with a challenge of remarkable importance.

Shear rheology of lyotropic liquid crystals: a case study

We have investigated the rheological properties of lyotropic liquid crystals (LCs) formed by self-assembled neutral lipids and water, their relationship with the topology of the structure, and their dependence on temperature and water content. The phase diagram of a representative monoglyceride-water system, determined by combining cross-polarized optical microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), included four structures: lamellar, hexagonal, gyroid bicontinuous cubic (Ia3d), and double diamond bicontinuous cubic (Pn3m), as well as several regions of two-phase coexistence of some of the above structures. Rheology in the linear viscoelastic regime revealed a specific signature that was characteristic of the topology of each structure considered. The order-order transitions lamellar-to-cubic and cubic-to-hexagonal, as well as the order-disorder transitions from each LC to an isotropic fluid, were easily identified by following the development of the storage and loss moduli, G' and G'', respectively. The viscoelastic properties of both bicontinuous cubic phases were shown to be strongly frequency-dependent, following a pseudo-Maxwell behavior, with multiple relaxation times. Cubic-to-cubic transitions were nicely captured by scaling the longest relaxation time, tau, with either temperature or water volume fraction. Therefore, the set of the three main parameters used to establish the rheological behavior of the structure, that is, G', G'', and relaxation time, tau, constitutes a consistent ensemble to identify the structures of the liquid crystal. Finally, relaxation spectra, extracted for all liquid crystalline phases, allowed an additional possible identification criterion of the various structures considered.

Viscosity of interfacial water

The effective shear viscosity and frequency-dependent dynamic oscillatory shear spectra of water containing monovalent or divalent ions (ionic strength 25 mM), confined between mica crystals at 1-2 water molecules thickness, oscillated with twist angle with the period expected for the pseudohexagonal surface lattice. The effective viscosity varied by orders of magnitude as the twist angle was changed. Confinement appeared to imprint lateral spatial correlation on the ultrathin liquid, the more so the better the confining lattices were aligned, but the oft-proposed "ice structure" was not observed dynamically.