Open AccessCoil-to-Bridge Transitions of Self-Assembled Water Chains Observed in a Nanoscopic Meniscus
Author(s) -
Byung-Il Kim,
Ryan D. Boehm,
Harrison F. Agrusa
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
langmuir
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.042
H-Index - 333
eISSN - 1520-5827
pISSN - 0743-7463
DOI - 10.1021/acs.langmuir.1c03100
Subject(s) - nanoscopic scale , meniscus , bent molecular geometry , electromagnetic coil , tension (geology) , bridge (graph theory) , capillary condensation , groove (engineering) , materials science , substrate (aquarium) , surface tension , condensation , chemical physics , nanotechnology , condensed matter physics , chemistry , optics , crystallography , composite material , physics , thermodynamics , adsorption , geology , compression (physics) , medicine , oceanography , incidence (geometry) , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , metallurgy
Ten downward portions in the large oscillatory force-distance curve reported earlier are analyzed to understand a nanoscale water meniscus confined between a sharp probe and a flat substrate in air. The sigmoidal shape of each portion leads to the assumption that the meniscus is made up of n independent transitions of two states: one for a coil state and the other for a bridge state. The analysis reveals that each downward portion occurs due to a coil-to-bridge transition of n self-assembled water chains whose length ranges between 197 and 383 chain units. The transition provides novel insights into water's unique properties like high surface tension and the long-range condensation distances.