Electric properties of supercooled water contained in cylindrical nanopores

TL;DR

This study investigates the electrical properties of supercooled water confined in nanopores, revealing non-linear behaviors and potential ferroelectric phase transition indicators at temperatures below -35°C.

Contribution

It provides experimental data on dielectric properties and electrical fluctuations of supercooled water in nanopores, suggesting a ferroelectric phase transition at low temperatures.

Findings

Non-linear dielectric properties observed below -35°C

Increased electrical noise near -40°C

Evidence supporting ferroelectric phase transition hypothesis

Abstract

The paper provides data on measuring electrical properties of supercooled water in nanoporous silica MCM-41 with 3.5 nm diameter cylindrical pores, using the methods of dielectric spectroscopy and measuring proper electrical fluctuations at low frequencies. Occurrence of non-linear media properties at the temperatures below -35 C was determined, which was revealed in the form of registered cell capacity dependence on voltage amplitude in it, as well as noise increase close to -40 C. The effects observed are supposed to be related to the earlier predicted ferroelectric phase transition.