Neutron diffraction and NMR relaxation studies of structural variation and phase transformations for water/ice in SBA-15 silica: I. the over-filled case

E. Liu, J. C. Dore, Beau Webber, D. Khushalani, S. Jähnert, G. H. Findenegg, T. Hansen

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    Abstract

    Neutron diffraction and NMR relaxation measurements have been made of water/ice in SBA-15, a mesoporous silica constituting an ordered array of cylindrical mesopores of pore diameter ~86, over the temperature range 180-300K in a cooling and heating cycle. The over-filled sample shows the initial formation of hexagonal ice on the outside of the silica grains, followed by the nucleation of cubic ice inside the pores at a lower temperature. Neutron scattering profiles for the cubic ice peaks are significantly broadened and indicate a defective structure, as observed in previous experiments on ice formation in sol-gel and MCM-type silicas. Below the pore freezing temperature the intensity of the cubic ice peaks exhibit a significant increase, down to the lowest experimental temperature, indicating a reversible conversion of defective ice to ordered ice crystals. The peak profile analysis for the two ice patterns indicates a systematic variation in the position as a function of temperature, giving values of the expansion coefficients that are slightly lower than other measurements for the bulk phase. NMR results on proton relaxation as a function of temperature indicate the presence of a mobile phase for temperatures below pore freezing that supports the view that there is interconversion between brittle and plastic phases of ice. © IOP Publishing Ltd.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number003
    Pages (from-to)10009-10028
    Number of pages20
    JournalJournal of Physics: Condensed Matter
    Volume18
    Issue number44
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 8 Nov 2006

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