Journal
JOURNAL OF PHYSICS-CONDENSED MATTER
Volume 16, Issue 45, Pages S5437-S5448Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/0953-8984/16/45/008
Keywords
-
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
In contrast to non-associating liquids such as oils or organic solvents, whose viscosity diverges when they are confined by solid surfaces to films thinner than about ten molecular diameters, recent studies reveal that salt-free water remains fluid, with a viscosity close to its bulk value, even when confined to films down to only one or two monolayers thick. For the case of high concentration aqueous salt solutions compressed down to subnanometre films between confining planar surfaces, the hydration sheaths about the ions (trapped between the oppositely charged surfaces) also remain extremely fluid: this behaviour is attributed to the tenacity of water molecules in the hydration layers together with their rapid relaxation/exchange time. Related experiments on highly compressed, polyelectrolyte brushes in aqueous media reveal a remarkable lubricity which is in large measure attributed to similar hydration layers about the charged segments: this water of hydration strongly resists being squeezed out, but at the same time it may rapidly exchange with adjacent water molecules, thereby remaining quite fluid and acting as a molecular lubricant.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available