Observing Liquid Water Crystallization at Atomic Resolution

The phase transformation between liquid water and ice is among the most fundamental processes that shape the Earth’s ecosphere and define human activities. However, the ice-water interface has never been imaged at atomic resolution. This presentation discusses our recent breakthroughs in directly observing ice crystals and the ice-water interface at angstrom-level spatial resolution. Through a frozen liquid-cell approach, we prepared single-crystalline ice Ih samples crystallized from liquid water and elucidated the nanoscale defects within by high-resolution electron microscopy and molecular dynamics simulations [1]. The electron beam was used to control the melting and crystallization of ice in water within the frozen liquid cell. Importantly, we provided direct evidence of atomic-level prism facet roughening transition during ice growth. Taken together, this work has pushed the resolution limit for studying the phase transformation of ice and water. It may also help connect the dots between molecular-level and macroscopic aqueous processes in climate, environmental, and biophysical systems.

[1] Du, J. S. et al., arXiv:2406.00915