Freezing Suppression in Confined Water

Abstract

We study confined water in cellulose matrix through Monte Carlo simulations. To determine the crystal-fluid transition temperature behavior for confined water, we vary the diameter and length of channel, and the nature of wall-water interaction. Our model presents a transition temperature dependent on the channel diameter and independent from channel length. The transition temperature is higher for hydrophobic walls than hydrophilic walls. In the hydrophilic case one fluid layer in wall-water interface is observed. The transition temperature also depends on water latent heat value. In hydrophobic systems the transition temperatures reaches the bulk water transition temperature, for higher latent heat used. In all situations analyzed the confined water transition temperature is lower than the bulk water transition value.