Related papers: Understanding Interfacial Ice Premelting: Structur…
We perform computer simulations of the quasiliquid layer of ice formed at the ice-vapor interface close to the ice Ih-liquid-vapor triple point of water. Our study shows that the two distinct surfaces bounding the film behave at small…
Despite its importance in atmospheric science, much remains unknown about the microscopic mechanism of heterogeneous ice nucleation. In this work, we perform hybrid Monte Carlo simulations of the heterogeneous nucleation of ice on a range…
In this work, we conducted molecular dynamics simulations to study the fracture mechanism of ice crystals in a bulk phase and at ice-ice interfaces at the atomistic scale. We show that there exists a narrow disordered interfacial layer…
The structural characterization of microgels at interfaces is fundamental to understand both their 2D phase behavior and their role as stabilizers that enable emulsions to be broken on demand. However, this characterization is usually…
A widely accepted phenomenological rule states that solids with free surfaces cannot be overheated. In this work we discuss this statement critically under the light of the statistical thermodynamics of interfacial roughening transitions.…
By introducing finite size surface and interfacial excess quantities, interactions between interfaces are shown to modify the usual surface premelting phenomenon. It is the case of surface melting of a thin solid film s deposited on a…
Premelting plays a key role across physics, chemistry, materials and biology sciences but remains poorly understood at the atomic level due to surface characterization limitations. We report the discovery of a novel amorphous ice layer…
Experiments and computer simulations have established that liquid water's surfaces can deviate in important ways from familiar bulk behavior. Even in the simplest case of an air-water interface, distinctive layering, orientational biases,…
We characterized the structural and dynamical properties of the quasi-liquid layer (QLL) at the surface of ice by molecular dynamics simulations with a thermodynamically consistent water model. Our simulations show that for three low-index…
Soft particles such as microgels and core-shell particles can undergo significant and anisotropic deformations when adsorbed to a liquid interface. This, in turn, leads to a complex phase behavior upon compression. Here we develop a…
We formulate a theoretical model of the shear failure of a thin film tethered to a rigid substrate. The interface between film and substrate is modeled as a cohesive layer with randomly fluctuating shear strength/fracture energy. We…
Thin films made of deformable micro- and nano-units, such as biological membranes, polymer interfaces, and particle-laden liquid surfaces, exhibit a complex behavior during drying, with consequences for various applications like wound…
Ice nucleation is greatly important in areas as diverse as climate change, cryobiology, geology or food industry. Predicting the ability of a substrate to induce the nucleation of ice from supercooled water is a difficult problem. Here, we…
Close to the triple point, the surface of ice is covered by a thin liquid layer (so-called quasi-liquid layer) which crucially impacts growth and melting rates. Experimental probes cannot observe the growth processes below this layer, and…
Hypothesis: Seawater ice and frozen aqueous solutions in contact with air can exhibit a thin quasi-brine surface layer intruding between ice and vapor, but a detailed characterization of surface properties and its relation to three phase…
The properties of the interface between solid and melt are key to solidification and melting, as the interfacial free energy introduces a kinetic barrier to phase transitions. This makes solidification happen below the melting temperature,…
The formation of ice affects many aspects of our everyday life as well as technologies such as cryotherapy and cryopreservation. Foreign substances almost always aid water freezing through heterogeneous ice nucleation, but the molecular…
Most ice in nature forms thanks to impurities which boost the exceedingly low nucleation rate of pure supercooled water. However, the microscopic details of ice nucleation on these substances remain largely unknown. Here, we have unraveled…
The microscopic mechanisms controlling heterogeneous ice nucleation are complex and remain poorly understood. Although good ice nucleators are generally believed to match ice lattice and to bind water, counter examples are often identified.…
Freezing is a fundamental physical phenomenon that has been studied over many decades; yet the role played by surfaces in determining nucleation has remained elusive. Here we report direct computational evidence of surface induced…