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 (DO) 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 H 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.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62137-1 | DOI Listing |
Water Res
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China; Research Center for Environmental Nanotechnology (ReCENT), Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China.
The global freshwater crisis, exacerbated by escalating pollution, poses a significant threat to human health. Addressing this challenge required innovative strategies to develop highly efficient and process-adaptable materials for water decontamination. In this regard, nanomaterials with confinement structures have emerged as a promising solution, outperforming traditional nanomaterials in terms of efficiency, selectivity, stability, and process adaptability, thereby serving as an ideal platform for designing novel functional materials for sustainable water treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Hazard Mater
January 2025
College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China. Electronic address:
Low levels of human norovirus (HuNoV) in food and environment present challenges for nucleic acid detection. This study reported an evaporation-enhanced hydrogel digital reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (HD RT-LAMP) with interfacial enzymatic reaction for sensitive HuNoV quantification in food and water. By drying samples on a chamber array chip, HuNoV particles were enriched in situ.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhys Chem Chem Phys
January 2025
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China.
Herein, the interfacial effects on calcium carbonate clustering within two-dimensional (2D) graphene nanochannels were systematically investigated using molecular dynamics simulations. The distribution characteristics of the ions at the interface can be attributed to the ordered water layers within the 2D nanochannels. The orientation of CO is approximately perpendicular to the interface, which can be attributed to hydrogen bonding and its association with Ca at the interface region.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Phys Chem Lett
January 2025
Department of Materials Science & Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Despite numerous studies of water structures at the two-dimensional water-solid interfaces, much less is known about the phase behaviors of water at the one-dimensional (1D) liquid-solid interface. In this work, the 1D interfacial water phase behavior on the outer surface of carbon nanotube-like (CNT-like) models is studied by tuning the Lennard-Jones potential parameter ε of the surface atoms at various temperatures. Extensive molecular dynamics simulations show that ice nanotubes (INTs) can be spontaneously formed on CNT-like model surfaces without nanoconfinement.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAngew Chem Int Ed Engl
January 2025
Sun Yat-Sen University, Environmental Science and Engineering, CHINA.
Despite recent substantial advances in water treatment, the ability to selectively degrade trace micropollutants in real waters with complex matrix components remains a grand challenge. Here we report rational crafting of graphene oxide (GO)-wrapped defective TiO2 composite catalysts that creates nanoscopic confinement over the TiO2 surface within GO, thereby enabling the selective degradation of micropollutants through effectively excluding natural organic matter (NOM) and anions from the nanoconfined catalytic sites. In contrast to unconfined counterparts, the nanoconfined composite catalysts retain high degradation efficiency when exposed to various concentrations of NOM and anions, even in real water samples.
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