Thermal Desorption of H2O-Ice: From Nanoscale Films to the Bulk

TL;DR

This study investigates the thermal desorption behavior of water ice films from nanoscale to bulk, revealing distinct desorption stages, energies, and the formation of stacking disordered ice I, challenging previous assumptions about cubic ice formation.

Contribution

It provides detailed insights into the desorption stages, energies, and structural transformations of water ice films across a wide thickness range, using QCM and X-ray diffraction.

Findings

Desorption occurs in three stages corresponding to different ice phases.

Desorption energy increases with film thickness, plateauing around 65-70 kJ mol-1.

Stacking disordered ice I, not cubic ice, is the initial crystallization product of ASW.

Abstract

Desorption of H2O films ranging from 53 nanometres to 101 micrometre thicknesses have been investigated using a quartz-crystal microbalance (QCM) and temperature-programmed desorption. Three desorption stages are observed belonging to amorphous solid water (ASW), stacking disordered ice I (ice Isd), and hexagonal ice I (ice Ih). The desorption of ASW is only visible for the >10 micrometre films and is separated from the ice I desorption by 10-15 K and has an associated desorption energy of 64 kJ mol-1. The desorption energy of the 53 nanometre film was found to be near 50 kJ mol-1 as also noted in the literature, but with increasing film thickness the desorption energy of ice I rises until reaching a plateau around 65-70 kJ mol-1. The reason for the increased desorption energy is suggested to be due to molecules unable to desorb due to the thick covering layer of H2O and possibly re-adsorption. Before complete desorption of ice I which occurs around 220 K for the 100 micrometre film, a two-stage ice I desorption is observed with the QCM for the 10 and 20 micrometre films near 200 K. This event corresponds to the desorption of ice Isd as corroborated by X-ray diffraction patterns collected upon heating from 92-260 K at ambient pressure. Cubic ice is not observed as is commonly stated in the literature as resulting from the crystallisation of ASW. Therefore, ice Isd is the correct terminology for the initial crystallisation product of ASW.