Regensburg 2007 – scientific programme

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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 17: Poster Session I (Nanostructures at Surfaces; Metal Substrates: Epitaxy and Growth; Methods: Scanning Probe Techniques; Phase Transitions)

O 17.87: Poster

Monday, March 26, 2007, 17:30–20:30, Poster C

On the freezing and melting of water confined in mesoporous silica thin films investigated by X-ray Reflectivity — •Sandrine Dourdain¹, Heiko Schroeder¹, Markus Mezger¹, Sebastian Schoeder², Harald Reichert¹, and Helmut Dosch¹ — ¹Max-Planck-Institute for Metallforschung, Heisenbergstr.3, D-70569 Stuttgart — ²ESRF, 6 rue Jules Horowitz, F-38000 Grenoble

Since water in nano-scaled pores is involved in many biological systems, it is of paramount interest to probe its behavior in such conditions. We study the solid-liquid phase transition of water when it is confined in mesoporous silica thin films. Templates of mesopores organized in a thin film give the possibility to resolve the electron density profile by X-ray reflectivity on the nanometer scale. Changing the temperature or the size of the mesopores, the density of the confined water, as well as the mechanical deformations of the mesostructure, can be followed during the freezing and the melting transitions. In addition, owing to the possibility to chemically modify the walls of the mesopores, the effect of a varying hydrophilicity is accessible.