Hexagonal Monolayer Ice without Shared Edges

Xin Zhang, Ji-Yu Xu, Yu-Bing Tu, Kai Sun, Min-Long Tao, Zu-Hong Xiong, Ke-Hui Wu, Jun-Zhong Wang, Qi-Kun Xue, and Sheng Meng
Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 256001 – Published 21 December 2018
PDFHTMLExport Citation

Abstract

When adsorbed on solids, water molecules are usually arranged into a honeycomb hydrogen-bond network. Here we report the discovery of a novel monolayer ice built exclusively from water hexamers but without shared edges, distinct from all conventional ice phases. Water grown on graphite crystalizes into a robust monolayer ice after annealing, attaining an exceedingly high density of 0.134Å2. Unlike chemisorbed ice on metal surfaces, the ice monolayer can translate and rotate on graphite terraces and grow across steps, confirming its two-dimensional nature. First-principles calculations identify the monolayer ice structure as a robust self-assembly of closely packed water hexamers without edge sharing, whose stability is maintained by maximizing the number of intralayer hydrogen bonds on inert surfaces.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 24 May 2018
  • Revised 29 August 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.256001

© 2018 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Xin Zhang1,*, Ji-Yu Xu2,*, Yu-Bing Tu1, Kai Sun1, Min-Long Tao1, Zu-Hong Xiong1, Ke-Hui Wu2, Jun-Zhong Wang1,†, Qi-Kun Xue3, and Sheng Meng2

  • 1School of Physical Science and Technology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
  • 2Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
  • 3Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • Corresponding author. jzwangcn@swu.edu.cn
  • Corresponding author. smeng@iphy.ac.cn

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

Supplemental Material (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 121, Iss. 25 — 21 December 2018

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review Letters

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×