A biological model for controlling interface growth and morphology.

Biological systems create proteins that perform tasks more efficiently and precisely than conventional chemicals. For example, many plants and animals produce proteins to control the freezing of water. Biological antifreeze proteins (AFPs) inhibit the solidification process, even below the freezing point. These molecules bond to specific sites at the ice/water interface and are theorized to suppress solidification chemically or geometrically. In this project, we investigated the theoretical and experimental data on AFPs and performed analyses to understand the unique physics of AFPs. The experimental literature was analyzed to determine chemical mechanisms and effects of protein bonding at ice surfaces, specifically thermodynamic freezing point depression, suppression of ice nucleation, decrease in dendrite growth kinetics, solute drag on the moving solid/liquid interface, and stearic pinning of the ice interface. Stearic pinning was found to be the most likely candidate to explain experimental results, including freezing point depression, growth morphologies, and thermal hysteresis. A new stearic pinning model was developed and applied to AFPs, with excellent quantitative results. Understanding biological antifreeze mechanisms could enable important medical and engineering applications, but considerable future work will be necessary