The fragile-to-strong dynamic crossover transition in confined water: nuclear magnetic resonance results

Confined Water Dynamics in the Scaffolds of Polylactic Acid

Resorbable polylactic acid (PLA) ultrathin fibers have been applied as scaffolds for tissue engineering applications due to their micro- and nanoporous structure that favor cell adhesion, besides inducing cell proliferation and upregulating gene expression related to tissue regeneration. Incorporation of multiwalled carbon nanotubes into PLA fibers has been reported to increase the mechanical properties of the scaffold, making them even more suitable for tissue engineering applications. Ideally, scaffolds should be degraded simultaneously with tissue growth. Hydration and swelling are factors related to scaffold degradation. Hydration would negatively impact the mechanical properties since PLA shows hydrolytic degradation. Water absorption critically affects the catalysis and allowance of the hydrolysis reactions. Moreover, either mass transport and chemical reactions are influenced by confined water, which is an unexplored subject for PLA micro- and nanoporous fibers. Here, we probe and investigate confined water onto highly porous PLA microfibers containing few amounts of incorporated carbon nanotubes by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. A hydrostatic pressure was applied to the fibers to enhance the intermolecular interactions between water molecules and C=O groups from polyester bonds, which were evaluated over the wavenumber between 1600 and 2000 cm-1. The analysis of temperature dependence of FTIR spectra indicated the presence of confined water which is characterized by a non-Arrhenius to Arrhenius crossover at T0 = 190 K for 1716 and 1817 cm-1 carbonyl bands of PLA. These bands are sensitive to a hydrogen bond network of confined water. The relevance of our finding relies on the challenge detecting confined water in hydrophobic cavities as in the PLA one. To the best of our knowledge, we present the first report referring the presence of confined water in a hydrophobic scaffold as PLA for tissue engineering. Our findings can provide new opportunities to understand the role of confined water in tissue engineering applications. For instance, we argue that PLA degradation may be affected the most by confined water. PLA degradation involves hydrolytic and enzymatic degradation reactions, which can both be sensitive to changes in water properties.

Confinement dependence of protein-associated solvent dynamics around different classes of proteins, from the EPR spin probe perspective

Protein function is modulated by coupled solvent fluctuations, subject to the degree of confinement from the surroundings. To identify universal features of the external confinement effect, the temperature dependence of the dynamics of protein-associated solvent over 200-265 K for proteins representative of different classes and sizes is characterized by using the rotational correlation time (detection bandwidth, 10-10-10-7 s) of the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR, X-band) spin probe, TEMPOL, which is restricted to regions vicinal to protein in frozen aqueous solution. Weak (protein surrounded by aqueous-dimethylsulfoxide cryosolvent mesodomain) and strong (no added crysolvent) conditions of ice boundary confinement are imposed. The panel of soluble proteins represents large and small oligomeric (ethanolamine ammonia-lyase, 488 kDa; streptavidin, 52.8 kDa) and monomeric (myoglobin, 16.7 kDa) globular proteins, an intrinsically disordered protein (IDP, β-casein, 24.0 kDa), an unstructured peptide (protamine, 4.38 kDa) and a small peptide with partial backbone order (amyloid-β residues 1-16, 1.96 kDa). Expanded and condensate structures of β-casein and protamine are resolved by the spin probe under weak and strong confinement, respectively. At each confinement condition, the soluble globular proteins display common T-dependences of rotational correlation times and normalized weights, for two mobility components, protein-associated domain, PAD, and surrounding mesodomain. Strong confinement induces a detectable PAD component and emulation of globular protein T-dependence by the amyloid-β peptide. Confinement uniformly impacts soluble globular protein PAD dynamics, and is therefore a generic control parameter for modulation of soluble globular protein function.

Resolution and characterization of contributions of select protein and coupled solvent configurational fluctuations to radical rearrangement catalysis in coenzyme B12-dependent ethanolamine ammonia-lyase

Coenzyme B₁₂ (adenosylcobalamin) -dependent ethanolamine ammonia-lyase (EAL) is the signature enzyme in ethanolamine utilization metabolism associated with microbiome homeostasis and disease conditions in the human gut. The enzyme conducts a complex choreography of bond-making/bond-breaking steps that rearrange substrate to products through a radical mechanism, with themes common to other coenzyme B₁₂-dependent and radical enzymes. The methods presented are targeted to test the hypothesis that particular, select protein and coupled solvent configurational fluctuations contribute to enzyme function. The general approach is to correlate enzyme function with an introduced perturbation that alters the properties (for example, degree of concertedness, or collectiveness) of protein and coupled solvent dynamics. Methods for sample preparation and low-temperature kinetic measurements by using temperature-step reaction initiation and time-resolved, full-spectrum electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy are detailed. A framework for interpretation of results obtained in ensemble systems under conditions of statistical equilibrium within the reacting, globally unstable state is presented. The temperature-dependence of the first-order rate constants for decay of the cryotrapped paramagnetic substrate radical state in EAL, through the chemical step of radical rearrangement, displays a piecewise-continuous Arrhenius dependence from 203 to 295K, punctuated by a kinetic bifurcation over 219-220K. The results reveal the obligatory contribution of a class of select collective protein and coupled solvent fluctuations to the interconversion of two resolved, sequential configurational substates, on the decay time scale. The select class of collective fluctuations also contributes to the chemical step. The methods and analysis are generally applicable to other coenzyme B₁₂-dependent and related radical enzymes.

The Interplay between the Theories of Mode Coupling and of Percolation Transition in Attractive Colloidal Systems

In the recent years a considerable effort has been devoted to foster the understanding of the basic mechanisms underlying the dynamical arrest that is involved in glass forming in supercooled liquids and in the sol-gel transition. The elucidation of the nature of such processes represents one of the most challenging unsolved problems in the field of material science. In this context, two important theories have contributed significantly to the interpretation of these phenomena: the Mode-Coupling theory (MCT) and the Percolation theory (PT). These theories are rooted on the two pillars of statistical physics, universality and scale laws, and their original formulations have been subsequently modified to account for the fundamental concepts of Energy Landscape (EL) and of the universality of the fragile to strong dynamical crossover (FSC). In this review, we discuss experimental and theoretical results, including Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations, reported in the literature for colloidal and polymer systems displaying both glass and sol-gel transitions. Special focus is dedicated to the analysis of the interferences between these transitions and on the possible interplay between MCT and PT. By reviewing recent theoretical developments, we show that such interplay between sol-gel and glass transitions may be interpreted in terms of the extended F13 MCT model that describes these processes based on the presence of a glass-glass transition line terminating in an A3 cusp-like singularity (near which the logarithmic decay of the density correlator is observed). This transition line originates from the presence of two different amorphous structures, one generated by the inter-particle attraction and the other by the pure repulsion characteristic of hard spheres. We show here, combining literature results with some new results, that such a situation can be generated, and therefore experimentally studied, by considering colloidal-like particles interacting via a hard core plus an attractive square well potential. In the final part of this review, scaling laws associated both to MCT and PT are applied to describe, by means of these two theories, the specific viscoelastic properties of some systems.

Resolution and characterization of confinement- and temperature-dependent dynamics in solvent phases that surround proteins in frozen aqueous solution by using spin-probe EPR spectroscopy

Spin probe electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy is applied to characterize the dynamics of concentric hydration and mesophase solvent domains that surround proteins within the ice boundary in frozen aqueous solutions. The solvent dynamics are tuned by variation of temperature (190-265K) and by the degree of ice boundary confinement, which is modulated by the volume of added cryosolvent (0-~50Å separation distance from protein surface). Goals are to: (1) characterize the protein-coupled solvent dynamics on correlation time scales of ~10^-10<τ<10^-7s, and spatial scales from protein surface to periphery of the surrounding solution, from the perspective of a free, small-molecule (~7Å diameter) probe, and (2) reveal properties of the solvent-protein coupling that can be correlated with protein functions, that are measureable under the same conditions. Rotational mobility of the nitroxide spin probe, TEMPOL, resolves and tracks two solvent components, the protein-associated domain (PAD; akin to hydration layer) and surrounding mesodomain, through their distinct temperature- and confinement-dependent values of τ and normalized weight. Detailed protocols are described for simulation of two-component nitroxide EPR spectra, which are categorized by line shape regime and guided by a library of template spectra and simulation parameters derived from two model soluble globular proteins. The order-disorder transition in the PAD, which is a universal feature of protein-coupled solvent dynamics, provides a well-defined, tunable property for elucidating mechanism in solvent-protein-function dynamical coupling. The low-temperature mesodomain system and EPR spin probe method are generally applicable to reveal solvent contributions to a broad range of macromolecule-mediated biological processes.

Advances in the study of supercooled water

In this review, we report recent progress in the field of supercooled water. Due to its uniqueness, water presents numerous anomalies with respect to most simple liquids, showing polyamorphism both in the liquid and in the glassy state. We first describe the thermodynamic scenarios hypothesized for the supercooled region and in particular among them the liquid-liquid critical point scenario that has so far received more experimental evidence. We then review the most recent structural indicators, the two-state model picture of water, and the importance of cooperative effects related to the fact that water is a hydrogen-bonded network liquid. We show throughout the review that water's peculiar properties come into play also when water is in solution, confined, and close to biological molecules. Concerning dynamics, upon mild supercooling water behaves as a fragile glass former following the mode coupling theory, and it turns into a strong glass former upon further cooling. Connections between the slow dynamics and the thermodynamics are discussed. The translational relaxation times of density fluctuations show in fact the fragile-to-strong crossover connected to the thermodynamics arising from the existence of two liquids. When considering also rotations, additional crossovers come to play. Mobility-viscosity decoupling is also discussed in supercooled water and aqueous solutions. Finally, the polyamorphism of glassy water is considered through experimental and simulation results both in bulk and in salty aqueous solutions. Grains and grain boundaries are also discussed.

Supercooled nano-droplets of water confined in hydrophobic rubber

Hydrophobic elastomers are capable of absorbing a small amount of water that forms droplets around hydrophilic sites. These systems allow the study of confinement effects by a hydrophobic environment on the dynamics and thermodynamic behaviour of water molecules. The freezing-melting properties and the dynamics of water inside nano-droplets in butyl rubber are affected, as revealed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and deuterium nuclear magnetic resonance (²H-NMR). Upon cooling down, all water crystalizes with a bimodal droplet population (d_a = 3.4 nm and d_b = 4.4 nm) in a temperature range associated with the droplet size distribution. However, the melting temperature is not shifted according to the Gibbs-Thomson equation. The relative decrease of the ²H-NMR longitudinal magnetization is not a single exponential and, by inverse Laplace transformation, it was deduced to be bimodal in agreement with the DSC measurements (T_1,a ∼ 10 ms and T_1,b ∼ 200 ms). The deduced correlation time of molecular reorientation is longer than that of bulk water and the behaviour with temperature follows the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann (VFT) equations with a changing fragility as the droplet size is reduced when reducing hydration.

Structure and dynamics of nanoconfined water and aqueous solutions

This review is devoted to discussing recent progress on the structure, thermodynamic, reactivity, and dynamics of water and aqueous systems confined within different types of nanopores, synthetic and biological. Currently, this is a branch of water science that has attracted enormous attention of researchers from different fields interested to extend the understanding of the anomalous properties of bulk water to the nanoscopic domain. From a fundamental perspective, the interactions of water and solutes with a confining surface dramatically modify the liquid's structure and, consequently, both its thermodynamical and dynamical behaviors, breaking the validity of the classical thermodynamic and phenomenological description of the transport properties of aqueous systems. Additionally, man-made nanopores and porous materials have emerged as promising solutions to challenging problems such as water purification, biosensing, nanofluidic logic and gating, and energy storage and conversion, while aquaporin, ion channels, and nuclear pore complex nanopores regulate many biological functions such as the conduction of water, the generation of action potentials, and the storage of genetic material. In this work, the more recent experimental and molecular simulations advances in this exciting and rapidly evolving field will be reported and critically discussed.

Can the microscopic and macroscopic transport phenomena in deep eutectic solvents be reconciled?

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have become ubiquitous in a variety of industrial and pharmaceutical applications since their discovery. However, the fundamental understanding of their physicochemical properties and their emergence from the microscopic features is still being explored fervently. Particularly, the knowledge of transport mechanisms in DESs is essential to tune their properties, which shall aid in expanding the territory of their applications. This perspective presents the current state of understanding of the bulk/macroscopic transport properties and microscopic relaxation processes in DESs. The dependence of these properties on the components and composition of the DES is explored, highlighting the role of hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) interactions. Modulation of these interactions by water and other additives, and their subsequent effect on the transport mechanisms, is also discussed. Various models (e.g. hole theory, free volume theory, etc.) have been proposed to explain the macroscopic transport phenomena from a microscopic origin. But the formation of H-bond networks and clusters in the DES reveals the insufficiency of these models, and establishes an antecedent for dynamic heterogeneity. Even significantly above the glass transition, the microscopic relaxation processes in DESs are rife with temporal and spatial heterogeneity, which causes a substantial decoupling between the viscosity and microscopic diffusion processes. However, we propose that a thorough understanding of the structural relaxation associated to the H-bond dynamics in DESs will provide the necessary framework to interpret the emergence of bulk transport properties from their microscopic counterparts.

Wide-angle X-ray scattering and molecular dynamics simulations of supercooled protein hydration water

Understanding the mechanism responsible for the protein low-temperature crossover observed at T≈ 220 K can help us improve current cryopreservation technologies. This crossover is associated with changes in the dynamics of the system, such as in the mean-squared displacement, whereas experimental evidence of structural changes is sparse. Here we investigate hydrated lysozyme proteins by using a combination of wide-angle X-ray scattering and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Experimentally we suppress crystallization by accurate control of the protein hydration level, which allows access to temperatures down to T = 175 K. The experimental data indicate that the scattering intensity peak at Q = 1.54 Å^-1, attributed to interatomic distances, exhibits temperature-dependent changes upon cooling. In the MD simulations it is possible to decompose the water and protein contributions and we observe that, while the protein component is nearly temperature independent, the hydration water peak shifts in a fashion similar to that of bulk water. The observed trends are analysed by using the water-water and water-protein radial distribution functions, which indicate changes in the local probability density of hydration water.

Structural relaxation and crystallization in supercooled water from 170 to 260 K

The origin of water's anomalous properties has been debated for decades. Resolution of the problem is hindered by a lack of experimental data in a crucial region of temperatures, T, and pressures where supercooled water rapidly crystallizes-a region often referred to as "no man's land." A recently developed technique where water is heated and cooled at rates greater than 10⁹ K/s now enables experiments in this region. Here, it is used to investigate the structural relaxation and crystallization of deeply supercooled water for 170 K < T < 260 K. Water's relaxation toward a new equilibrium structure depends on its initial structure with hyperquenched glassy water (HQW) typically relaxing more quickly than low-density amorphous solid water (LDA). For HQW and T > 230 K, simple exponential relaxation kinetics is observed. For HQW at lower temperatures, increasingly nonexponential relaxation is observed, which is consistent with the dynamics expected on a rough potential energy landscape. For LDA, approximately exponential relaxation is observed for T > 230 K and T < 200 K, with nonexponential relaxation only at intermediate temperatures. At all temperatures, water's structure can be reproduced by a linear combination of two, local structural motifs, and we show that a simple model accounts for the complex kinetics within this context. The relaxation time, τ _rel , is always shorter than the crystallization time, τ _xtal For HQW, the ratio, τ _xtal /τ _rel , goes through a minimum at ∼198 K where the ratio is about 60.

2H NMR study on temperature-dependent water dynamics in amino-acid functionalized silica nanopores

We prepare various amino-acid functionalized silica pores with diameters of ∼6 nm and study the temperature-dependent reorientation dynamics of water in these confinements. Specifically, we link basic Lys, neutral Ala, and acidic Glu to the inner surfaces and combine ²H nuclear magnetic resonance spin-lattice relaxation and line shape analyses to disentangle the rotational motions of the surfaces groups and the crystalline and liquid water fractions coexisting below partial freezing. Unlike the crystalline phase, the liquid phase shows reorientation dynamics, which strongly depends on the chemistry of the inner surfaces. The water reorientation is slowest for the Lys functionalization, followed by Ala and Glu and, finally, the native silica pores. In total, the rotational correlation times of water at the different surfaces vary by about two orders of magnitude, where this span is largely independent of the temperature in the range ∼200-250 K.

Thermodynamic and Kinetic Transitions of Liquids in Nanoconfinement

Core principles of chemistry are ubiquitously invoked to shed light on the nature of molecular level interactions in nanoconfined fluids, which play a pivotal role in a wide range of processes in geochemistry, biology, and engineering. A detailed understanding of the physicochemical processes involved in the flow, structural transitions, and freezing or melting behavior of fluids confined within nanometer-sized pores of solid materials is thus of enormous importance for both basic research and technological applications.This Account provides a perspective on new insights into the thermodynamic and kinetic transitions of nanoconfined fluids in their stable and metastable forms. After briefly introducing the unique properties of mesoporous silicas from the SBA, MCM, and FDU families that serve as the confinement matrices, combining highly ordered single and bimodal mesopore architectures with tunable pore sizes in the ∼2-15 nm range and narrow size distributions, recent studies on melting/freezing behavior of water confined in these host matrices are reviewed. While differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) reveals a linear relationship between melting point depression and pore size (independent of the pore shape), as predicted by the Gibbs-Thomson relation, variable temperature ²H wide-line nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy studies confirm the core-shell model of water and give evidence for a layer-by-layer freezing mechanism, which gives rise to an apparent fragile-to-strong transition in the solidification dynamics.In contrast to the freezing/melting behavior of water, the effect of nanoconfinement on the glass transition of supercooled liquids is nonuniversal and the glass transition temperature T_g can either increase or decrease with the dimensionality and extent of confinement. This nonuniversal behavior is exemplified by the two glass-forming molecular liquids, glycerol and ortho-terphenyl (OTP). While glycerol shows an increase in T_g and a pronounced slowdown of the rotational dynamics of the constituent molecules due to a change in the molecular packing between the bulk and the confined liquid, OTP displays a linear and confining-media-dependent depression of T_g with increased confinement that is strongly influenced by the pore-liquid interface characteristics.This Account concludes with a focus on recent experimental evidence of extreme spatial and dynamical heterogeneity in both freezing and glass transition processes. This discovery was enabled by the unique mesoporous structures of SBA-16 and FDU-5, possessing bimodal architectures with two interconnected pore types of different size and shape (spherical and cylindrical). For the very first time, two melting points for water and two glass transitions for supercooled OTP, corresponding to a specific pore type, were observed. Collectively, these observations strongly suggest a close mechanistic connection between the local fluctuations in the structure and dynamics of nanoconfined liquids. While the findings reviewed in this Account provide new insights into thermodynamic and kinetic transitions of fluids, there remain many unanswered questions regarding the effects of nanoconfinement on the fundamental properties of fluids, which offer exciting future opportunities in chemical research.

Coarse-graining strategy for modeling effective, highly diffusive fluids with reduced polydispersity: A dynamical study

We present a coarse-graining strategy for reducing the number of particle species in mixtures to achieve a simpler system with higher diffusion while preserving the total particle number and characteristic dynamic features. As a system of application, we chose the bidisperse Lennard-Jones-like mixture, discovered by Kob and Andersen [Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 1376 (1994)], possessing a slow dynamics due to the fluid's multi-component character with its apparently unconventional choice for the pair potential of the type-A-type-B arrangement. We further established in a so-formed coarse-grained and temperature-independent monodisperse system an equilibrium structure with a radial distribution function resembling its mixture counterpart. This one-component system further possesses similar dynamic features such as glass transition temperature and critical exponents while subjected to Newtonian mechanics. This strategy may finally lead to the manufacturing of new nanoparticle/colloidal fluids by experimentally modeling only the outcoming effective pair potential(s) and no other macroscopic quantity.

Layer-by-Layer Freezing of Nanoconfined Water

Nanoconfined water plays a pivotal role in a vast number of fields ranging from biological and materials sciences to catalysis, nanofluidics and geochemistry. Here, we report the freezing and melting behavior of water (D₂O) nanoconfined in architected silica-based matrices including Vycor glass and mesoporous silica SBA-15 and SBA-16 with pore diameters ranging between 4–15 nm, which are investigated using differential scanning calorimetry and ²H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The results provide compelling evidence that the extreme dynamical heterogeneity of water molecules is preserved over distances as small as a few angstroms. Solidification progresses in a layer-by-layer fashion with a coexistence of liquid-like and solid-like dynamical fraction at all temperatures during the transition process. The previously reported fragile-to-strong dynamic transition in nanoconfined water is argued to be a direct consequence of the layer-by-layer solidification.

Static field gradient NMR studies of water diffusion in mesoporous silica

NMR diffusometry is used to ascertain the pore-size dependent water diffusion in MCM-41 and SBA-15 silica over broad temperature ranges. Detailed analysis of 1H and 2H NMR stimulated-echo decays reveals that fast water motion through voids between different silica particles impairs such studies in the general case. However, water diffusion inside single pores is probed in the present approach, which applies high static field gradients to enhance the spatial resolution of the experiment and uses excess water in combination with subzero temperatures to embed the silica particles in an ice matrix and, thus, to suppress interparticle water motion. It is found that the diffusion of confined water slows down by almost two orders of magnitude when the pore diameter is reduced from 5.4 nm to 2.1 nm at weak cooling. In the narrower silica pores, the temperature dependence of the self-diffusion coefficient of water is well described by an Arrhenius law with an activation energy of Ea = 0.40 eV. The Arrhenius behavior extends over a broad temperature range of at least 207-270 K, providing evidence against a fragile-to-strong crossover in response to a proposed liquid-liquid phase transition near 225 K. In the wider silica pores, partial crystallization results in a discontinuous temperature dependence. Explicitly, the diffusion coefficients drop when cooling through the pore-size dependent melting temperatures Tm of confined water. This finding can be rationalized by the fact that water can explore the whole pore volumes above Tm, but is restricted to narrow interfacial layers sandwiched between silica walls and ice crystallites below this temperature. Comparing our findings for water diffusion with previous results for water reorientation, we find significantly different temperature dependencies, indicating that the Stokes-Einstein-Debye relation is not obeyed.

Unravelling the contribution of local structures to the anomalies of water: The synergistic action of several factors

We investigate the microscopic origin of water's anomalies by inspecting the hydrogen bond network (HBN) and the spatial organization of low-density-liquid (LDL) like and high-density-liquid (HDL) like environments. Specifically, we simulate-via classical molecular dynamics simulations-the isobaric cooling of a sample composed of 512 water molecules from ambient to deeply undercooled conditions at three pressures, namely, 1 bar, 400 bars, and 1000 bars. In correspondence with the Widom line (WL), (i) the HDL-like dominating cluster undergoes fragmentation caused by the percolation of LDL-like aggregates following a spinodal-like kinetics; (ii) such fragmentation always occurs at a "critical" concentration of ∼20%-30% in LDL; (iii) the HBN within LDL-like environments is characterized by an equal number of pentagonal and hexagonal rings that create a state of maximal frustration between a configuration that promotes crystallization (hexagonal ring) and a configuration that hinders it (pentagonal ring); (iv) the spatial organization of HDL-like environments shows a marked variation. Moreover, the inspection of the global symmetry shows that the intermediate-range order decreases in correspondence with the WL and such a decrease becomes more pronounced upon increasing the pressure, hence supporting the hypothesis of a liquid-liquid critical point. Our results reveal and rationalize the complex microscopic origin of water's anomalies as the cooperative effect of several factors acting synergistically. Beyond implications for water, our findings may be extended to other materials displaying anomalous behaviours.

DMA study of water's glass transition in nanoscale confinement

Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) measurements of water confined in nanoporous silica have been performed as a function of temperature and frequency for different pore sizes (2.5-10 nm) at heating and cooling. Most of the data show three processes, P1, P2 and P3, where P1 and P2 depend on measurement frequency and P3 does not. The characteristic shift of P3 with pore size shows that this process corresponds to freezing/melting of "internal water", i.e. in the core of the pores. Thermal expansion data indicate - in agreement with e.g. [A. Taschin, P. Bartolini and R. Torre, Meas. Sci. Technol., 2017, 28, 014009] - that in all our nanoporous systems about 2 layers of water remain liquid much below the freezing point. Dynamic elastic measurements show clear signatures of glass freezing of this supercooled water in the vicinity of P1. Extrapolating the DMA data to the timescale (103 s) of adiabatic calorimetry unveils a systematic behaviour: P1(T) shows a clear size dependence for a broad range of pore diameters, i.e. 2.5 nm ≤ d ≤ 52 nm, implying (together with the corresponding activation energy 0.5 eV) that P1 corresponds to the glass-liquid transition of a few layers of supercooled water at Tg(d). An extrapolation of Tg(d) to d → ∞ yields Tg(∞) ≈ 136 K, the traditional value for bulk water. The small (liquid like) value of Young's modulus in a temperature region above P1 is most naturally explained assuming that the supercooled water in this range is still liquid, implying that Tg values of 160 K or even 210 K - as suggested by various authors - are unlikely.

The evaluation of the hydrophilic-hydrophobic interactions and their effect in water-methanol solutions: A study in terms of the thermodynamic state functions in the frame of the transition state theory

Aqueous solutions of amphiphilic molecules are characterized by the competition between hydrophilic and hydrophobic interactions. These interactions have a different energetic dependence with the temperature. Whereas hydrophilic interactions have been well characterized, a complete theory for the hydrophobic ones is still lacking as well as the comprehension of the effect that the solvent exerts on the solute and vice versa. In this paper from the measured relaxation time, we evaluated the thermodynamic state functions of water-methanol solutions in the frame of the transition state theory. In particular we study the behavior of the Gibbs free energy, enthalpy and entropy of water, methanol and some of their solutions as a function of both temperature and water molar fraction. Our results indicate that the temperature of about 280 K represents a crossover between two regions dominated by hydrophobicity (high T) and hydrophilicity (low T).

Possible relations between supercooled and glassy confined water and amorphous bulk ice

A proposed relaxation scenario of bulk water based on studies of confined water and low density amorphous ice.

A Combined Solid-State NMR, Dielectric Spectroscopy and Calorimetric Study of Water in Lowly Hydrated MCM-41 Samples

The processes of drying mesoporous silica materials and their refilling with water have been examined by magic-angle spinning (MAS) solid-state NMR, broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). It is shown that different drying protocols strongly influence the amount and types of hydroxy-species inside the pores. It is found that a very good vacuum (≈10−6 bar) is necessary to remove all H2O molecules from the silica matrices in order to accurately refill them with very low amounts of water such as e.g. a mono- or submonolayer coverage of the surface. Time-dependent 1H-NMR-spectra recorded after loading the samples indicate a very specific course of water first existing in a bulk-like form inside the pores and then distributing itself through the pores by hydrogen bonding to surface silanol groups. After assuring accurate sample loading, we were able to investigate lowly hydrated samples of water confined in MCM-41 via DCS and BDS at temperatures below the freezing point of free bulk-water (0°C) and find two non-crystallizing water species with Arrhenius behavior and activation energies of 0.53 eV (51.1 kJ/mol).

Slow Dynamics and Structure of Supercooled Water in Confinement

We review our simulation results on properties of supercooled confined water. We consider two situations: water confined in a hydrophilic pore that mimics an MCM-41 environment and water at interface with a protein. The behavior upon cooling of the α relaxation of water in both environments is well interpreted in terms of the Mode Coupling Theory of glassy dynamics. Moreover, we find a crossover from a fragile to a strong regime. We relate this crossover to the crossing of the Widom line emanating from the liquid-liquid critical point, and in confinement we connect this crossover also to a crossover of the two body excess entropy of water upon cooling. Hydration water exhibits a second, distinctly slower relaxation caused by its dynamical coupling with the protein. The crossover upon cooling of this long relaxation is related to the protein dynamics.

Perspective: Structure and dynamics of water at surfaces probed by scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy

The detailed and precise understanding of water-solid interaction largely relies on the development of atomic-scale experimental techniques, among which scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) has proven to be a noteworthy example. In this perspective, we review the recent advances of STM techniques in imaging, spectroscopy, and manipulation of water molecules. We discuss how those newly developed techniques are applied to probe the structure and dynamics of water at solid surfaces with single-molecule and even submolecular resolution, paying particular attention to the ability of accessing the degree of freedom of hydrogen. In the end, we present an outlook on the directions of future STM studies of water-solid interfaces as well as the challenges faced by this field. Some new scanning probe techniques beyond STM are also envisaged.

A nanosecond pulsed laser heating system for studying liquid and supercooled liquid films in ultrahigh vacuum

A pulsed laser heating system has been developed that enables investigations of the dynamics and kinetics of nanoscale liquid films and liquid/solid interfaces on the nanosecond time scale in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV). Details of the design, implementation, and characterization of a nanosecond pulsed laser system for transiently heating nanoscale films are described. Nanosecond pulses from a Nd:YAG laser are used to rapidly heat thin films of adsorbed water or other volatile materials on a clean, well-characterized Pt(111) crystal in UHV. Heating rates of ∼10(10) K/s for temperature increases of ∼100-200 K are obtained. Subsequent rapid cooling (∼5 × 10(9) K/s) quenches the film, permitting in-situ, post-heating analysis using a variety of surface science techniques. Lateral variations in the laser pulse energy are ∼±2.7% leading to a temperature uncertainty of ∼±4.4 K for a temperature jump of 200 K. Initial experiments with the apparatus demonstrate that crystalline ice films initially held at 90 K can be rapidly transformed into liquid water films with T > 273 K. No discernable recrystallization occurs during the rapid cooling back to cryogenic temperatures. In contrast, amorphous solid water films heated below the melting point rapidly crystallize. The nanosecond pulsed laser heating system can prepare nanoscale liquid and supercooled liquid films that persist for nanoseconds per heat pulse in an UHV environment, enabling experimental studies of a wide range of phenomena in liquids and at liquid/solid interfaces.

A neutron spin echo study of low-temperature water confined in the spherical silica pores of SBA-16

The dynamic properties of heavy water (D₂O) and light water (H₂O) confined in porous silica SBA-16 were studied over a temperature range of 210–290 K by neutron spin echo measurements.

Decoupling of viscosity and relaxation processes in supercooled water: a molecular dynamics study with the TIP4P/2005f model

We show that the TIP4P/2005f water model describes accurately the experimental viscosity and self-diffusion over a large temperature range. We then show the decoupling of viscosity and structural relaxation time in supercooled water.

Growth rate of crystalline ice and the diffusivity of supercooled water from 126 to 262 K

Understanding deeply supercooled water is key to unraveling many of water's anomalous properties. However, developing this understanding has proven difficult due to rapid and uncontrolled crystallization. Using a pulsed-laser-heating technique, we measure the growth rate of crystalline ice, G(T), for 180 K < T < 262 K, that is, deep within water's "no man's land" in ultrahigh-vacuum conditions. Isothermal measurements of G(T) are also made for 126 K ≤ T ≤ 151 K. The self-diffusion of supercooled liquid water, D(T), is obtained from G(T) using the Wilson-Frenkel model of crystal growth. For T > 237 K and P ∼ 10-8 Pa, G(T) and D(T) have super-Arrhenius ("fragile") temperature dependences, but both cross over to Arrhenius ("strong") behavior with a large activation energy in no man's land. The fact that G(T) and D(T) are smoothly varying rules out the hypothesis that liquid water's properties have a singularity at or near 228 K at ambient pressures. However, the results are consistent with a previous prediction for D(T) that assumed no thermodynamic transitions occur in no man's land.

Dynamical and orientational structural crossovers in low-temperature glycerol

Mean-square displacements of hydrogen atoms in glass-forming materials and proteins, as reported by incoherent elastic neutron scattering, show kinks in their temperature dependence. This crossover, known as the dynamical transition, connects two approximately linear regimes. It is often assigned to the dynamical freezing of subsets of molecular modes at the point of equality between their corresponding relaxation times and the instrumental observation window. The origin of the dynamical transition in glass-forming glycerol is studied here by extensive molecular dynamics simulations. We find the dynamical transition to occur for both the center-of-mass translations and the molecular rotations at the same temperature, insensitive to changes of the observation window. Both the translational and rotational dynamics of glycerol show a dynamic crossover from the structural to a secondary relaxation at the temperature of the dynamical transition. A significant and discontinuous increase in the orientational Kirkwood factor and in the dielectric constant is observed in the same range of temperatures. No indication is found of a true thermodynamic transition to an ordered low-temperature phase. We therefore suggest that all observed crossovers are dynamic in character. The increase in the dielectric constant is related to the dynamic freezing of dipolar domains on the time scale of simulations.

Dynamical properties of water-methanol solutions

We study the relaxation times tα in the water-methanol system. We examine new data and data from the literature in the large temperature range 163 < T < 335 K obtained using different experimental techniques and focus on how tα affects the hydrogen bond structure of the system and the hydrophobicity of the alcohol methyl group. We examine the relaxation times at a fixed temperature as a function of the water molar fraction XW and observe two opposite behaviors in their curvature when the system moves from high to low T regimes. This behavior differs from that of an ideal solution in that it has excess values located at different molar fractions (XW = 0.5 for high T and 0.75 in the deep supercooled regime). We analyze the data and find that above a crossover temperature T ∼ 223 K, hydrophobicity plays a significant role and below it the water tetrahedral network dominates. This temperature is coincident with the fragile-to-strong dynamical crossover observed in confined water and supports the liquid-liquid phase transition hypothesis. At the same time, the reported data suggest that this crossover temperature (identified as the Widom line temperature) also depends on the alcohol concentration.

Glass polymorphism in glycerol-water mixtures: I. A computer simulation study

We perform out-of-equilibrium molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of water-glycerol mixtures in the glass state. Specifically, we study the transformations between low-density (LDA) and high-density amorphous (HDA) forms of these mixtures induced by compression/decompression at constant temperature. Our MD simulations reproduce qualitatively the density changes observed in experiments. Specifically, the LDA-HDA transformation becomes (i) smoother and (ii) the hysteresis in a compression/decompression cycle decreases as T and/or glycerol content increase. This is surprising given the fast compression/decompression rates (relative to experiments) accessible in MD simulations. We study mixtures with glycerol molar concentration χ(g) = 0-13% and find that, for the present mixture models and rates, the LDA-HDA transformation is detectable up to χ(g) ≈ 5%. As the concentration increases, the density of the starting glass (i.e., LDA at approximately χ(g) ≤ 5%) rapidly increases while, instead, the density of HDA remains practically constant. Accordingly, the LDA state and hence glass polymorphism become inaccessible for glassy mixtures with approximately χ(g) > 5%. We present an analysis of the molecular-level changes underlying the LDA-HDA transformation. As observed in pure glassy water, during the LDA-to-HDA transformation, water molecules within the mixture approach each other, moving from the second to the first hydration shell and filling the first interstitial shell of water molecules. Interestingly, similar changes also occur around glycerol OH groups. It follows that glycerol OH groups contribute to the density increase during the LDA-HDA transformation. An analysis of the hydrogen bond (HB)-network of the mixtures shows that the LDA-HDA transformation is accompanied by minor changes in the number of HBs of water and glycerol. Instead, large changes in glycerol and water coordination numbers occur. We also perform a detailed analysis of the effects that the glycerol force field (FF) has on our results. By comparing MD simulations using two different glycerol models, we find that glycerol conformations indeed depend on the FF employed. Yet, the thermodynamic and microscopic mechanisms accompanying the LDA-HDA transformation and hence, our main results, do not. This work is accompanied by an experimental report where we study the glass polymorphism in glycerol-water mixtures prepared by isobaric cooling at 1 bar.

Confined Water as Model of Supercooled Water

Water in confined geometries has obvious relevance in biology, geology, and other areas where the material properties are strongly dependent on the amount and behavior of water in these types of materials. Another reason to restrict the size of water domains by different types of geometrical confinements has been the possibility to study the structural and dynamical behavior of water in the deeply supercooled regime (e.g., 150-230 K at ambient pressure), where bulk water immediately crystallizes to ice. In this paper we give a short review of studies with this particular goal. However, from these studies it is also clear that the interpretations of the experimental data are far from evident. Therefore, we present three main interpretations to explain the experimental data, and we discuss their advantages and disadvantages. Unfortunately, none of the proposed scenarios is able to predict all the observations for supercooled and glassy bulk water, indicating that either the structural and dynamical alterations of confined water are too severe to make predictions for bulk water or the differences in how the studied water has been prepared (applied cooling rate, resulting density of the water, etc.) are too large for direct and quantitative comparisons.

Vibrational signatures of the water behaviour upon confinement in nanoporous hydrogels

Vibrational spectroscopy is used to investigate how the hydrogen-bond dynamics of water is influenced by nano-confinement and hydrophobic/hydrophilic solvation effects.

Viscosity of deeply supercooled water and its coupling to molecular diffusion

The viscosity of a liquid measures its resistance to flow, with consequences for hydraulic machinery, locomotion of microorganisms, and flow of blood in vessels and sap in trees. Viscosity increases dramatically upon cooling, until dynamical arrest when a glassy state is reached. Water is a notoriously poor glassformer, and the supercooled liquid crystallizes easily, making the measurement of its viscosity a challenging task. Here we report viscosity of water supercooled close to the limit of homogeneous crystallization. Our values contradict earlier data. A single power law reproduces the 50-fold variation of viscosity up to the boiling point. Our results allow us to test the Stokes-Einstein and Stokes-Einstein-Debye relations that link viscosity, a macroscopic property, to the molecular translational and rotational diffusion, respectively. In molecular glassformers or liquid metals, the violation of the Stokes-Einstein relation signals the onset of spatially heterogeneous dynamics and collective motions. Although the viscosity of water strongly decouples from translational motion, a scaling with rotational motion remains, similar to canonical glassformers.

Quantum effects in the dynamics of deeply supercooled water

Despite its simple chemical structure, water remains one of the most puzzling liquids with many anomalies at low temperatures. Combining neutron scattering and dielectric relaxation spectroscopy, we show that quantum fluctuations are not negligible in deeply supercooled water. Our dielectric measurements reveal the anomalously weak temperature dependence of structural relaxation in vapor-deposited water close to the glass transition temperature T(g)∼136K. We demonstrate that this anomalous behavior can be explained well by quantum effects. These results have significant implications for our understanding of water dynamics.

Dynamics of deeply supercooled interfacial water

In this review we discuss the relaxation dynamics of glassy and deeply supercooled water in different types of systems. We compare the dynamics of such interfacial water in ordinary aqueous solutions, hard confinements and biological soft materials. In all these types of systems the dielectric relaxation time of the main water process exhibits a dynamic crossover from a high-temperature non-Arrhenius temperature dependence to a low-temperature Arrhenius behavior. Moreover, at large enough water content the low-temperature process is universal and exhibits the same temperature behavior in all types of systems. However, the physical nature of the dynamic crossover is somewhat different for the different types of systems. In ordinary aqueous solutions it is not even a proper dynamic crossover, since the water relaxation decouples from the cooperative α-relaxation of the solution slightly above the glass transition in the same way as all secondary (β) relaxations of glass-forming materials. In hard confinements, the physical origin of the dynamic crossover is not fully clear, but it seems to occur when the cooperative main relaxation of water at high temperatures reaches a temperature where the volume required for its cooperative motion exceeds the size of the geometrically-confined water cluster. Due to this confinement effect the α-like main relaxation of the confined water seems to transform to a more local β-relaxation with decreasing temperature. Since this low-temperature β-relaxation is universal for all systems at high water content it is possible that it can be considered as an intrinsic β-relaxation of supercooled water, including supercooled bulk water. This possibility, together with other findings for deeply supercooled interfacial water, suggests that the most accepted relaxation scenarios for supercooled bulk water have to be altered.

Relation between the two-body entropy and the relaxation time in supercooled water

The two-body excess entropy of supercooled water is calculated from the radial distribution functions obtained from computer simulation of the TIP4P model for different densities upon supercooling. This quantity is considered in connection with the relaxation time of the self intermediate scattering function. The relaxation time shows a mode coupling theory (MCT) behavior in the region of mild supercooling and a strong behavior in the deep supercooled region. We find here that the two-body entropy is connected to the relaxation time and shows a logarithmic behavior with an apparent asymptotic divergence at the mode coupling crossover temperature. There is also evidence of a change in behavior of the two-body entropy upon crossing from the fragile (hopping-free) state to the strong (hopping-dominated) state of supercooled water, and the relation that connects the two-body entropy and the relxation time in the MCT region no longer holds.

Experimental evidence for a liquid-liquid crossover in deeply cooled confined water

In this work we investigate, by means of elastic neutron scattering, the pressure dependence of mean square displacements (MSD) of hydrogen atoms of deeply cooled water confined in the pores of a three-dimensional disordered SiO2 xerogel; experiments have been performed at 250 and 210 K from atmospheric pressure to 1200 bar. The "pressure anomaly" of supercooled water (i.e., a mean square displacement increase with increasing pressure) is observed in our sample at both temperatures; however, contrary to previous simulation results and to the experimental trend observed in bulk water, the pressure effect is smaller at lower (210 K) than at higher (250 K) temperature. Elastic neutron scattering results are complemented by differential scanning calorimetry data that put in evidence, besides the glass transition at about 170 K, a first-order-like endothermic transition occurring at about 230 K that, in view of the neutron scattering results, can be attributed to a liquid-liquid crossover. Our results give experimental evidence for the presence, in deeply cooled confined water, of a crossover occurring at about 230 K (at ambient pressure) from a liquid phase predominant at 210 K to another liquid phase predominant at 250 K; therefore, they are fully consistent with the liquid-liquid transition hypothesis.