Oxygen NMR of high-density and low-density amorphous ice.

Using oxygen-17 as a nuclear probe, spin relaxometry was applied to study the high-density and low-density states of amorphous ice, covering temperatures below and somewhat above their glass transitions. These findings are put in perspective with results from deuteron nuclear magnetic resonance and with calculations based on dielectrically detected correlation times. This comparison reveals the presence of a wide distribution of correlation times. Furthermore, oxygen-17 central-transition echo spectra were recorded for wide ranges of temperature and pulse spacing. The spectra cannot be described by a single set of quadrupolar parameters, suggesting a distribution of H-O-H opening angles that is broader for high-density than for low-density amorphous ice. Simulations of the pulse separation dependent spin-echo spectra for various scenarios demonstrate that a small-step frequency diffusion process, assigned to the presence of homonuclear oxygen-oxygen interactions, determines the shape evolution of the pulse-separation-dependent spectra.

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.

Near-Infrared Spectra of High-Density Crystalline H2O Ices II, IV, V, VI, IX, and XII.

High-pressure ice polymorphs are important for our understanding of hydrogen bonding and exist in the interior of the earth and icy moons. Nonetheless, spectroscopic information about them is scarce, where no information about their optical properties in the near-infrared (NIR) region is available at all. We here report NIR spectra of six ice polymorphs differing in terms of their density and O-atom topology, namely, ices II, IV, V, VI, IX, and XII, in comparison with the known spectra of ice Ih. By contrast to earlier work, we do not use mulling agents or transmission of thin films but use diffuse reflectance on powdered samples in liquid nitrogen. The first overtone of the OH-stretching mode is identified as the marker band most suitable to distinguish between these ices. There is a clear blue shift of this band that increases with increasing topological density in addition to a significant narrowing of the band.

Thermodynamic and kinetic isotope effects on the order-disorder transition of ice XIV to ice XII.

Isotope effects accompanying the order-disorder transition of ice XIV to ice XII are studied using calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and dielectric spectroscopy. Particular emphasis is placed on the impact of the cooling rate applied during high-pressure production and during ambient-pressure recooling on the degree of hydrogen order in the low-temperature ice XIV phase. For specimens from D2O, ordering is harder to achieve in the sense that despite smaller cooling rates, the degree of order is less than in crystals produced from H2O. The degree of ordering can be quantified in terms of the Pauling entropy using calorimetry and manifests itself in structural and dynamical features that were examined using X-ray diffraction and dielectric spectroscopy, respectively. In hydrogen chloride doped samples, H/D substitution was found to slow down the dipolar dynamics up to about 30-fold and shifts the order-disorder transition by 4-6 K. By contrast to earlier assumptions it is possible to reach a high degree of ordering also at ambient pressure, provided the cooling rate is small enough. That is, at ambient pressure, orthorhombic stress slows down the dipolar reorientation near the ordering transition by a factor of 300-2000 for H2O and 30-100 for D2O samples. Furthermore, by long-term storage of our samples at 77 K we have reached surprisingly large increases in degree of order. For the D2O samples we observed an unprecedented high order, corresponding to more than 45% of the Pauling entropy.

Relaxation dynamics and transformation kinetics of deeply supercooled water: Temperature, pressure, doping, and proton/deuteron isotope effects.

Above its glass transition, the equilibrated high-density amorphous ice (HDA) transforms to the low-density pendant (LDA). The temperature dependence of the transformation is monitored at ambient pressure using dielectric spectroscopy and at elevated pressures using dilatometry. It is found that near the glass transition temperature of deuterated samples, the transformation kinetics is 300 times slower than the structural relaxation, while for protonated samples, the time scale separation is at least 30 000 and insensitive to doping. The kinetics of the HDA to LDA transformation lacks a proton/deuteron isotope effect, revealing that this process is dominated by the restructuring of the oxygen network. The x-ray diffraction experiments performed on samples at intermediate transition stages reflect a linear combination of the LDA and HDA patterns implying a macroscopic phase separation, instead of a local intermixing of the two amorphous states.

Anomalously large isotope effect in the glass transition of water.

We present the discovery of an unusually large isotope effect in the structural relaxation and the glass transition temperature Tg of water. Dielectric relaxation spectroscopy of low-density as well as of vapor-deposited amorphous water reveal Tg differences of 10 ± 2 K between H2O and D2O, sharply contrasting with other hydrogen-bonded liquids for which H/D exchange increases Tg by typically less than 1 K. We show that the large isotope effect and the unusual variation of relaxation times in water at low temperatures can be explained in terms of quantum effects. Thus, our findings shed new light on water's peculiar low-temperature dynamics and the possible role of quantum effects in its structural relaxation, and possibly in dynamics of other low-molecular-weight liquids.

Glass polymorphism in glycerol-water mixtures: II. Experimental studies.

We report a detailed experimental study of (i) pressure-induced transformations in glycerol-water mixtures at T = 77 K and P = 0-1.8 GPa, and (ii) heating-induced transformations of glycerol-water mixtures recovered at 1 atm and T = 77 K. Our samples are prepared by cooling the solutions at ambient pressure at various cooling rates (100 K s(-1)-10 K h(-1)) and for the whole range of glycerol mole fractions, χ(g). Depending on concentration and cooling rates, cooling leads to samples containing amorphous ice (χg ≥ 0.20), ice (χ(g) ≤ 0.32), and/or "distorted ice" (0 < χ(g) ≤ 0.38). Upon compression, we find that (a) fully vitrified samples at χ(g) ≥ 0.20 do not show glass polymorphism, in agreement with previous works; (b) samples containing ice show pressure-induced amorphization (PIA) leading to the formation of high-density amorphous ice (HDA). PIA of ice domains within the glycerol-water mixtures is shown to be possible only up to χ(g) ≈ 0.32 (T = 77 K). This is rather surprising since it has been known that at χ(g) < 0.38, cooling leads to phase-separated samples with ice and maximally freeze-concentrated solution of χ(g) ≈ 0.38. Accordingly, in the range 0.32 < χ(g) < 0.38, we suggest that the water domains freeze into an interfacial ice, i.e., a highly-distorted form of layered ice, which is unable to transform to HDA upon compression. Upon heating samples recovered at 1 atm, we observe a rich phase behavior. Differential scanning calorimetry indicates that only at χ(g) ≤ 0.15, the water domains within the sample exhibit polyamorphism, i.e., the HDA-to-LDA (low-density amorphous ice) transformation. At 0.15 < χ(g) ≤ 0.38, samples contain ice, interfacial ice, and/or HDA domains. All samples (χ(g) ≤ 0.38) show: the crystallization of amorphous ice domains, followed by the glass transition of the vitrified glycerol-water domains and, finally, the melting of ice at high temperatures. Our work exemplifies the complex "phase" behavior of glassy binary mixtures due to phase-separation (ice formation) and polyamorphism, and the relevance of sample preparation, concentration as well as cooling rates. The presence of the distorted ice (called "interphase" by us) also explains the debated "drift anomaly" upon melting. These results are compatible with the high-pressure study by Suzuki and Mishima indicating disappearance of polyamorphism at P ≈ 0.03-0.05 GPa at χ(g) ≈ 0.12-0.15 [J. Chem. Phys., 2014, 141, 094505].

The glass transition in high-density amorphous ice.

There has been a long controversy regarding the glass transition in low-density amorphous ice (LDA). The central question is whether or not it transforms to an ultraviscous liquid state above 136 K at ambient pressure prior to crystallization. Currently, the most widespread interpretation of the experimental findings is in terms of a transformation to a superstrong liquid above 136 K. In the last decade some work has also been devoted to the study of the glass transition in high-density amorphous ice (HDA) which is in the focus of the present review. At ambient pressure HDA is metastable against both ice I and LDA, whereas at > 0.2 GPa HDA is no longer metastable against LDA, but merely against high-pressure forms of crystalline ice. The first experimental observation interpreted as the glass transition of HDA was made using in situ methods by Mishima, who reported a glass transition temperature Tg of 160 K at 0.40 GPa. Soon thereafter Andersson and Inaba reported a much lower glass transition temperature of 122 K at 1.0 GPa. Based on the pressure dependence of HDA's Tg measured in Innsbruck, we suggest that they were in fact probing the distinct glass transition of very high-density amorphous ice (VHDA). Very recently the glass transition in HDA was also observed at ambient pressure at 116 K. That is, LDA and HDA show two distinct glass transitions, clearly separated by about 20 K at ambient pressure. In summary, this suggests that three glass transition lines can be defined in the p-T plane for LDA, HDA, and VHDA.

Calorimetric Signature of Deuterated Ice II: Turning an Endotherm to an Exotherm.

Calorimetric studies on ice II reveal a surprising H2O/D2O isotope effect. While the ice II to ice Ic transition is endothermic for H2O, it is exothermic for D2O samples. The transition enthalpies are +40 and -140 J/mol, respectively, where such a sign change upon isotope substitution is unprecedented in ice research. To understand the observations we employ force field calculations using two water models known to perform well for H2O ice phases and their vibrational properties. These simulations reveal that the isotope effect can be traced back to zero-point energy. q-TIP4P/F fares better and is able to account for approximately three-fourths of the isotope effect, while MB-pol only catches approximately one-third. Phonon and configurational entropy contributions are necessary to predict reasonable transition enthalpies, but they do not have an impact on the isotope effect. We suggest to use these calorimetric isotope data as a benchmark for water models.