A new type of ice does not melt at room temperature and has a square crystal lattice

    Scientists led by Nobel laureate Andrei Geim placed water 1 nanometer thick between graphene layers to obtain ice crystals of an unusual shape - two-dimensional squares. This new type of ice does not melt at room temperature. Scientists are sure that such crystals can occur not only in graphene, but also exist in nature in the cracks of stones and soil.

    On the left is the resulting lattice, on the right is the “classic” ice crystal lattice.

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    Computer simulations have helped scientists suggest that water will adopt a two-dimensional square crystal lattice if it is clamped between sheets of graphene at high pressure. Scientists placed one microliter of water on a sheet of graphene and pressed the second: the distance between the layers was not more than one nanometer. This happened at room temperature. As a result, scientists got ice.

    In a layer of square ice, all atoms lie in one plane with a right angle between each oxygen-hydrogen bond. The ice obtained by the team of Andrei Game contains two or three such layers. Graphene sheets must exert pressure on the water for more than ten thousand atmospheres to obtain such a result.

    Andrei Game believes that a new type of ice can be used to develop desalination filters based on graphene.

    Two-dimensional ice in an electron microscope. Speed ​​increased.


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