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arXiv · 2205.14037

3D confinement of water: H2O exhibits long-range (> 50 nm) structure while D2O does not

N. Dupertuis·O. B. Tarun·C. Lütgebaucks·S. Roke
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Abstract

Water is the liquid of life, thanks to its three-dimensional adaptive hydrogen (H)-bond network. Confinement of this network may lead to dramatic structural changes that influence chemical and physical transformations. Although confinement effects occur on a < 1 nm length scale, the upper length scale limit is not known. Here, we investigate 3D confinement over lengths scales ranging from 58 - 140 nm. By confining water in zwitterionic liposomes of different sizes and measuring the change in H-bond network conformation using second harmonic scattering (SHS) we determined long range confinement effects in light and heavy water. D2O displays no detectable 3D-confinement effects < 58 nm (< 3.10^6 D2O molecules). H2O is distinctly different: The vesicle enclosed inner H-bond network has a different conformation compared to the outside network and the SHS response scales with the volume of the confining space. H2O displays confinement effects over distances > 140 nm (> 4.10^7 H2O molecules).

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N. Dupertuis, O. B. Tarun, C. Lütgebaucks, S. Roke. 2022-05-27. 3D confinement of water: H2O exhibits long-range (> 50 nm) structure while D2O does not. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c02206

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