2. Academic Validation
  3. Polarized Neutrons Observed Nanometer-Thick Crystalline Ice Plates in Frozen Glucose Solution

Polarized Neutrons Observed Nanometer-Thick Crystalline Ice Plates in Frozen Glucose Solution

  • J Phys Chem Lett. 2023 Aug 31;14(34):7638-7643. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c01448.
Takayuki Kumada 1 2,  Hiroshi Nakagawa 1 2,  Daisuke Miura 1,  Yurina Sekine 1,  Ryuhei Motokawa 1,  Kosuke Hiroi 2,  Yasuhiro Inamura 2,  Takayuki Oku 2,  Kazuki Ohishi 3,  Toshiaki Morikawa 3,  Yukihiko Kawamura 3,  Kiyoshi Kawai 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Materials Sciences Research Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Tokai, Ibaraki 319-1195, Japan.
  • 2 J-PARC Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Tokai, Ibaraki 319-1195, Japan.
  • 3 Neutron Science and Technology Center, Comprehensive Research Organization for Science and Society (CROSS), Tokai, Ibaraki 319-1106, Japan.
  • 4 Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8528, Japan.
PMID: 37605312 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c01448
Abstract

Spin-contrast-variation (SCV) small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) is a technique to determine the nanostructure of composite Materials from the scattering of polarized neutrons that changes with proton polarization of samples. The SCV-SANS enabled us to determine structure of nanoice crystals that were generated in rapidly frozen sugar solutions by separating the overlapped signals from the nanoice crystals and frozen amorphous solutions. In the frozen glucose solution, we found that the nanoice crystals formed a planar structure with a radius larger than several tens of nanometers and a thickness of 2.5 ± 0.5 nm, which was close to the critical nucleation size of ice crystals in supercooled water. This result suggests that the glucose molecules were preferentially bound to a specific face of nanoice crystals and then blocked the crystal growth perpendicular to that face.

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