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Superionic water, also called superionic ice or ice XVIII is a
phase Phase or phases may refer to: Science *State of matter, or phase, one of the distinct forms in which matter can exist *Phase (matter), a region of space throughout which all physical properties are essentially uniform * Phase space, a mathematic ...
of
water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...
that exists at extremely high
temperatures Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...
and
pressures Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country and e ...
. In superionic water, water molecules break apart and the oxygen ions
crystallize Crystallization is the process by which solid forms, where the atoms or molecules are highly organized into a structure known as a crystal. Some ways by which crystals form are precipitating from a solution, freezing, or more rarely deposi ...
into an evenly spaced lattice while the
hydrogen ions A hydrogen ion is created when a hydrogen atom loses or gains an electron. A positively charged hydrogen ion (or proton) can readily combine with other particles and therefore is only seen isolated when it is in a gaseous state or a nearly particle ...
float around freely within the oxygen lattice.Weird water lurking inside giant planets
New Scientist,01 September 2010, Magazine issue 2776.
The freely mobile hydrogen ions make superionic water almost as
conductive In physics and electrical engineering, a conductor is an object or type of material that allows the flow of charge (electric current) in one or more directions. Materials made of metal are common electrical conductors. Electric current is gener ...
as typical metals, making it a superionic conductor. It is one of the 19 known crystalline phases of ice. Superionic water is distinct from
ionic water Superionic water, also called superionic ice or ice XVIII is a phase of water that exists at extremely high temperatures and pressures. In superionic water, water molecules break apart and the oxygen ions crystallize into an evenly spaced lat ...
, which is a hypothetical liquid state characterized by a disordered soup of hydrogen and oxygen ions. While theorized for decades, it was not until the 1990s that the first experimental evidence emerged for superionic water. Initial evidence came from optical measurements of laser-heated water in a diamond anvil cell, and from optical measurements of water shocked by extremely powerful lasers. The first definitive evidence for the crystal structure of the oxygen lattice in superionic water came from x-ray measurements on laser-shocked water which were reported in 2019. If it were present on the surface of the
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
, superionic ice would rapidly decompress. In May 2019, scientists at the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a federal research facility in Livermore, California, United States. The lab was originally established as the University of California Radiation Laboratory, Livermore Branch in 1952 in response ...
(LLNL) were able to synthesize superionic ice, confirming it to be almost four times as dense as normal ice. Superionic water is theorized to be present in the mantles of giant planets such as Uranus and Neptune.


Properties

, it is theorized that superionic ice can possess two crystalline structures. At pressures in excess of it is predicted that superionic ice would take on a
body-centered cubic In crystallography, the cubic (or isometric) crystal system is a crystal system where the unit cell is in the shape of a cube. This is one of the most common and simplest shapes found in crystals and minerals. There are three main varieties of ...
structure. However, at pressures in excess of , and temperatures above 3,140 degrees Fahrenheit, it is predicted that the structure would shift to a more stable
face-centered cubic In crystallography, the cubic (or isometric) crystal system is a crystal system where the unit cell is in the shape of a cube. This is one of the most common and simplest shapes found in crystals and minerals. There are three main varieties of ...
lattice.Phys.org
"New phase of water could dominate the interiors of Uranus and Neptune"
Lisa Zyga, 25 April 2013


History of theoretical and experimental evidence

Demontis et al. made the first prediction for superionic water using classical molecular dynamics simulations in 1988. In 1999, Cavazzoni et al. predicted that such a state would exist for
ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous was ...
and
water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...
in conditions such as those existing on
Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Its name is a reference to the Greek god of the sky, Uranus (mythology), Uranus (Caelus), who, according to Greek mythology, was the great-grandfather of Ares (Mars (mythology), Mars), grandfather ...
and
Neptune Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the farthest known planet in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 times ...
. In 2005 Laurence Fried led a team at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to recreate the formative conditions of superionic water. Using a technique involving smashing water molecules between
diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...
s and super heating it with
laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...
s they observed frequency shifts which indicated that a
phase transition In chemistry, thermodynamics, and other related fields, a phase transition (or phase change) is the physical process of transition between one state of a medium and another. Commonly the term is used to refer to changes among the basic states of ...
had taken place. The team also created
computer model Computer simulation is the process of mathematical modelling, performed on a computer, which is designed to predict the behaviour of, or the outcome of, a real-world or physical system. The reliability of some mathematical models can be deter ...
s which indicated that they had indeed created superionic water. In 2013 Hugh F. Wilson, Michael L. Wong, and Burkhard Militzer at the University of California, Berkeley published a paper predicting the
face-centered cubic In crystallography, the cubic (or isometric) crystal system is a crystal system where the unit cell is in the shape of a cube. This is one of the most common and simplest shapes found in crystals and minerals. There are three main varieties of ...
lattice structure that would emerge at higher pressures. Additional experimental evidence was found by Marius Millot and colleagues in 2018 by inducing high pressure on water between diamonds and then shocking the water using a laser pulse.


2018–2019 experiments

In 2018, researchers at LLNL squeezed water between two pieces of diamond with a pressure of . The water was squeezed into type VII ice, which is 60 percent denser than normal water. The compressed ice was then transported to the
University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of Roc ...
where it was blasted by a pulse of laser light. The reaction created conditions like those inside of
ice giant An ice giant is a giant planet composed mainly of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, such as oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. There are two ice giants in the Solar System: Uranus and Neptune. In astrophysics and planetary science t ...
s such as Uranus and Neptune by heating up the ice thousands of degrees under a pressure a million times greater than the earth's atmosphere in only 10 to 20 billionths of a second. The experiment concluded that the current in the conductive water was indeed carried by ions rather than electrons and thus pointed to the water being superionic. More recent experiments from the same
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a federal research facility in Livermore, California, United States. The lab was originally established as the University of California Radiation Laboratory, Livermore Branch in 1952 in response ...
team used x-ray crystallography on laser-shocked water droplets to determine that the oxygen ions enter a face-centered-cubic phase, which was dubbed ice XVIII and reported in the journal ''Nature'' in May 2019.


Existence in ice giants

It is theorized that the
ice giant An ice giant is a giant planet composed mainly of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, such as oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. There are two ice giants in the Solar System: Uranus and Neptune. In astrophysics and planetary science t ...
planets
Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Its name is a reference to the Greek god of the sky, Uranus (mythology), Uranus (Caelus), who, according to Greek mythology, was the great-grandfather of Ares (Mars (mythology), Mars), grandfather ...
and
Neptune Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the farthest known planet in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 times ...
hold a layer of superionic water.
Machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of inquiry devoted to understanding and building methods that 'learn', that is, methods that leverage data to improve performance on some set of tasks. It is seen as a part of artificial intelligence. Machine ...
and free-energy methods predict
close-packed In geometry, close-packing of equal spheres is a dense arrangement of congruent spheres in an infinite, regular arrangement (or lattice). Carl Friedrich Gauss proved that the highest average density – that is, the greatest fraction of space occu ...
superionic phases to be stable over a wide temperature and pressure range, and a
body-centred cubic In crystallography, the cubic (or isometric) crystal system is a crystal system where the unit cell is in the shape of a cube. This is one of the most common and simplest shapes found in crystals and minerals. There are three main varieties of ...
superionic phase to be kinetically favoured, but stable over a small window of paramaters. On the other hand, there are also studies that suggest that other elements present inside the interiors of these planets, particularly
carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...
, may prevent the formation of superionic water.


Applications

Water is widely known for its existence in three different phases i.e solid, liquid and gas just like any other substance or component that exists. However, Wang. et al have discovered a high-pressure ionic phase of water ice. This ice is known to change its structural configuration according to high and low temperatures. Some of the biggest problems industries are addressed using the existence of these three standard states of water but often operations are carried out at very high and low pressures and temperatures and knowledge of this physical/structural property of water ice might help us understand the material and energy exchange in a more detailed and accurate way. It could be understood whether how this change in configuration affects the outcome of the operation and by how much. It is highly likely that this may provide a deeper understanding of the supercritical water that is used in the industries. A well-developed understanding of this phenomenon might help us design processes/operations in a more efficient way by avoiding many losses.


References

{{ice Astrophysics Forms of water Water ice