Effect of Polyvinyl Alcohol on Ice Formation in the Presence of a Liquid/Solid Interface

Tuning ice formation is of great importance in biological systems and some technological applications. Many synthetic polymers have been shown to affect ice formation, in particular, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). However, the experimental observations of the effect of PVA on ice formation are still conflicting. Here, we introduced colloidal silica (CS) as the model liquid/solid interface and studied the effect of PVA on ice formation in detail. The results showed that either PVA or CS promoted ice formation, whereas the mixture of these two (CS-PVA) prevented ice formation (antifreezing). Using quantitative analysis based on classical nucleation theory, we revealed that the main contribution came from the kinetic factor J(0) rather than the energy barrier factor Gamma. Combined with the PVA adsorption behavior on CS particles, it is strongly suggested that the adsorption of PVA at the interface has significantly reduced ice nucleation, which thus may provide new ideas for developing antifreezing agents.