Direct Observation of Self-Assembled Chain-Like Water Structures in a Nanoscopic Water Meniscus

Authors

Byung I. Kim, Boise State UniversityFollow
Ryan D. Boehm, Boise State UniversityFollow
Jeremy R. Bonander, Boise State UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-7-2013

Abstract

Sawtooth-like oscillatory forces generated by water molecules confined between two oxidized silicon surfaces were observed using a cantilever-based optical interfacial force microscope when the two surfaces approached each other in ambient environments. The humidity-dependent oscillatory amplitude and periodicity were 3-12 nN and 3-4 water diameters, respectively. Half of each period was matched with a freely jointed chain model, possibly suggesting that the confined water behaved like a bundle of water chains. The analysis also indicated that water molecules self-assembled to form chain-like structures in a nanoscopic meniscus between two hydrophilic surfaces in air. From the friction force data measured simultaneously, the viscosity of the chain-like water was estimated to be between 10⁸ and 10¹⁰ times greater than that of bulk water. The suggested chain-like structure resolves many unexplained properties of confined water at the nanometer scale, thus dramatically improving the understanding of a variety of water systems in nature.

Copyright Statement

Copyright (2013) American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in The Journal of Chemical Physics, Volume 139, Issue 5, (2013), and may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4816818.

Publication Information

Kim, Byung I.; Boehm, Ryan D.; and Bonander, Jeremy R.. (2013). "Direct Observation of Self-Assembled Chain-Like Water Structures in a Nanoscopic Water Meniscus". The Journal of Chemical Physics, 139(5), 054701-1-054701-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4816818