Supramolecular Hydrophobic Aggregates in Hydrogels Partially Inhibit Ice Formation

Published

June 23, 2016

Author(s)

Clinton G. Wiener, Madhu Sudan Tyagi, Yun Liu, R. A. Weiss, Bryan D. Vogt

Abstract

Prevention of ice crystallization is a challenging problem with implications in diverse applications, including the ability to examine the fundamental low temperature physics of water. Here, we demonstrate a simple route, inspired by water confinement in antifreeze proteins, to inhibit crystallization and provide high water mobility of highly supercooled water using a soft matter based on supramolecular hydrogels of copolymers of dimethylacrylamide (DMA) and 2-(N-ethylperfluorooctane sulfonamide)ethyl acrylate (FOSA). These hydrogels can suppress or inhibit freezing of their water, depending on the copolymer composition. Dynamic and static neutron scattering indicate that hydrogels with > 15 mol% FOSA can effectively inhibit ice formation. The hydrophobic nanodomains of FOSA confine water to nanoscale hydrophilic regions (<2 nm) and enable unfrozen water to persist to the lowest temperatures examined (205K). More intriguingly, very fast dynamics of the unfrozen water are observed at 295 K within the same hydrogel. The spacing between the hydrophobic nanodomains, tuned through the copolymer composition, appears to modulate the freezing of water and provides a facile route to highly supercooled water.

Citation

Journal of Physical Chemistry B

Volume

120

Issue

24

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Neutron scattering, hydrogel, water dynamics

Citation

Wiener, C. , Tyagi, M. , Liu, Y. , Weiss, R. and Vogt, B. (2016), Supramolecular Hydrophobic Aggregates in Hydrogels Partially Inhibit Ice Formation, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=921008 (Accessed October 8, 2025)