Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Distinct Ice Patterns On Solid Surfaces With Various Wettabilities, Jie Liu, Chongqin Zhu, Kai Liu, Ying Jiang, Yanlin Song, Joseph S. Francisco, Xiao Cheng Zeng, Jianjun Wang

Xiao Cheng Zeng Publications

No relationship has been established between surface wettability and ice growth patterns, although ice often forms on top of solid surfaces. Here, we report experimental observations obtained using a process specially designed to avoid the influence of nucleation and describe the wettability-dependent ice morphology on solid surfaces under atmospheric conditions and the discovery of two growth modes of ice crystals: along-surface and off-surface growth modes. Using atomistic molecular dynamics simulation analysis, we show that these distinct ice growth phenomena are attributable to the presence (or absence) of bilayer ice on solid surfaces with different wettability; that is, the formation of …