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GAS DISSOLUTION

Imaging supersaturation

Nature Chemistry volume 13, page 212 (2021)Cite this article

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For degassed and deionized water, the liquid was found to be homogeneous. In contrast, for water supersaturated with N2, O2, Ar, Xe or SF6, polycrystalline nanoparticles that are several tens of nanometres in size were observed in a small number of pockets. For water supersaturated with either of the six gases investigated, most pockets contained a clathrate structure. Characterization using bright- and dark-field TEM images as well as selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns indicated that these systems consist of small gas-containing cages, or cells, hosted in a polycrystalline network of water molecules. Those clathrates, which are typically between ∼100 nm and 1 μm in lateral size, appear as arrays of white spots at underfocus (and dark spots at overfocus) that lack long-range order. They are difficult to distinguish in focus, which may indicate that the density of the gas within the cells is close to that of the water molecules forming the surrounding matrix.

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Reference

  1. Hsu, W.-H. & Hwang, I.-S. Chem. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1039/d0sc06262f (2021).

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  1. Nature Chemistry https://www.nature.com/naturechemistry

    Anne Pichon

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  1. Anne Pichon
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Correspondence to Anne Pichon.

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Pichon, A. Imaging supersaturation. Nat. Chem. 13, 212 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-021-00653-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-021-00653-x

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