Phys. Rev. E 76, 020501(R) (2007) [4 pages]

Diamond stabilization of ice multilayers at human body temperature

Abstract

References

Citing Articles (4)

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Alexander D. Wissner-Gross¹ and Efthimios Kaxiras^1,2
¹Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
²School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

Received 13 February 2007; published 27 August 2007

Diamond is a promising material for wear-resistant medical coatings. Here we report a remarkable increase in the melting point of ice resting on a diamond (111) surface modified with a submonolayer of Na⁺. Our molecular dynamics simulations show that the interfacial ice bilayer melts at a temperature 130 K higher than in free ice, and relatively thick ice films (2.6 nm at 298 K and 2.2 nm at 310 K) are stabilized by dipole interactions with the substrate. This unique physical effect may enable biocompatibility-enhancing ice overcoatings for diamond at human body temperature.

URL:

http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.76.020501

DOI:

10.1103/PhysRevE.76.020501

PACS:

64.70.Dv, 61.20.Ja, 61.50.Lt, 61.66.Fn

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Phys. Rev. E 76, 020501(R) (2007) [4 pages]

Diamond stabilization of ice multilayers at human body temperature