• 文献标题:   Phase Diagram of Water Confined by Graphene
  • 文献类型:   Article
  • 作  者:   GAO ZH, GIOVAMBATTISTA N, SAHIN O
  • 作者关键词:  
  • 出版物名称:   SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
  • ISSN:   2045-2322
  • 通讯作者地址:   Columbia Univ
  • 被引频次:   13
  • DOI:   10.1038/s41598-018-24358-3
  • 出版年:   2018

▎ 摘  要

The behavior of water confined at the nanoscale plays a fundamental role in biological processes and technological applications, including protein folding, translocation of water across membranes, and filtration and desalination. Remarkably, nanoscale confinement drastically alters the properties of water. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we determine the phase diagram of water confined by graphene sheets in slab geometry, at T = 300 K and for a wide range of pressures. We find that, depending on the confining dimension D and density sigma, water can exist in liquid and vapor phases, or crystallize into monolayer and bilayer square ices, as observed in experiments. Interestingly, depending on D and sigma, the crystal-liquid transformation can be a first-order phase transition, or smooth, reminiscent of a supercritical liquid-gas transformation. We also focus on the limit of stability of the liquid relative to the vapor and obtain the cavitation pressure perpendicular to the graphene sheets. Perpendicular cavitation pressure varies non-monotonically with increasing D and exhibits a maximum at D approximate to 0.90 nm (equivalent to three water layers). The effect of nanoconfinement on the cavitation pressure can have an impact on water transport in technological and biological systems. Our study emphasizes the rich and apparently unpredictable behavior of nanoconfined water, which is complex even for graphene.