Plastic ice in confined geometry: the evidence from neutron diffraction and NMR relaxation.

Neutron diffraction and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxation studies have been made of water/ice in mesoporous SBA-15 silica with ordered structures of cylindrical mesopores with a pore diameter ∼8.6 nm, over the temperature range 180-300 K. Both measurements show similar depressed freezing and melting points due to the Gibb-Thomson effect.

Clathrate formation and dissociation in vapor/water/ice/hydrate systems in SBA-15, sol-gel and CPG porous media, as probed by NMR relaxation, novel protocol NMR cryoporometry, neutron scattering and ab initio quantum-mechanical molecular dynamics simulation.

The Gibbs-Thomson effect modifies the pressure and temperature at which clathrates occur, hence altering the depth at which they occur in the seabed. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements as a function of temperature are being conducted for water/ice/hydrate systems in a range of pore geometries, including templated SBA-15 silicas, controlled pore glasses and sol-gel silicas. Rotator-phase plastic ice is shown to be present in confined geometry, and bulk tetrahydrofuran hydrate is also shown to probably have a rotator phase.