Medium-density amorphous ice

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Rosu-Finsen, Alexander; Davies, Michael B.; Amon, Alfred; Wu, Han; Sella, Andrea; Michaelides, Angelos; Salzmann, Christoph G.
• 署名单位: University of London; University College London; University of London; University College London; University of Cambridge; University of London; University College London
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-9486
• DOI: 10.1126/science.abq2105
• 发表日期: 2023-02-03
• 页码: 474-478
• 关键词: liquid-liquid transition; 1st-order transition; phase; amorphization; DYNAMICS; absence; state; forms; water; iv

摘要

Amorphous ices govern a range of cosmological processes and are potentially key materials for explaining the anomalies of liquid water. A substantial density gap between low-density and high-density amorphous ice with liquid water in the middle is a cornerstone of our current understanding of water. However, we show that ball milling ordinary ice Ih at low temperature gives a structurally distinct medium-density amorphous ice (MDA) within this density gap. These results raise the possibility that MDA is the true glassy state of liquid water or alternatively a heavily sheared crystalline state. Notably, the compression of MDA at low temperature leads to a sharp increase of its recrystallization enthalpy, highlighting that H2O can be a high-energy geophysical material.