Low-Dimensional and Confined Ice

Abstract

Owing to its unique structure, morphology, and crystal quality, low-dimensional (L-D) ice has attracted increasing attention in recent years. With a size (at least in one dimension) between that of a single water molecule and a snowflake, L-D ice does not only appear as an intermediate state during the dimensional change but can also manifest extraordinary characteristics, from its molecular structures to its physical properties, which offer exciting opportunities for a better understanding and utilization of ice. In this article, we start with a brief introduction to the crystal growth, structure, and typical characterization techniques of ice and then review recent progress in the study of crystal growth, molecular structures, phase morphologies, and physical properties of zero-, one-, and two-dimensional (0-, 1-, and 2D) ice. Extraordinary behaviors of ice in low dimensions and extreme conditions are highlighted. Finally, the future outlook for the physical study and technological applications of L-D ice is briefly discussed. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Materials Research, Volume 53 is July 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Optical microfiber or nanofiber: a miniature fiber-optic platform for nanophotonics

“…For example, a variety of polymers [e.g., polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) [109] , polystyrene (PS) [110,111] , and polyacrylamide (PAM) [112] ] or biomaterials (e.g., silkworm silk [113] , spider silk [114,115] , lotus root silk [116] , and Escherichia coli [117] ) have been fabricated into MNFs by physical (solution/melt) drawing [109][110][111][112] , chemical/biological synthesis [113][114][115][116][117][118] , or electrospinning [119] , and used to waveguide light for a variety of purposes. In addition, recently, crystal micro/nanoscale wires made of semiconductors [120][121][122][123] , dielectrics [124,125] , or even ice [126] have also been called optical "nanofibers" or "microfibers" when they are used for optical waveguiding, just as we named waveguiding wire-like sapphire single crystals as sapphire optical fibers some 30 years ago [125,127] , although they are typically fabricated by bottom-up crystal growth processes [128][129][130][131][132] .…”

“…This section focuses on high-temperature drawing techniques of glass optical MNFs and the corresponding diameter control and characterization techniques. The fabrication of other types of MNFs can be found in many review articles elsewhere [128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136] .…”

“…In addition, bottom-up synthesized techniques, originally for growing crystalline whiskers [182] , have also been improved for growing highly uniform single-crystal photonic semiconductor micro/nanowires (also called MNFs recently) [136,183,184] , oxide nanowires [185][186][187] , or even ice microfibers [126] , for low-loss optical waveguiding. As most of these techniques have been reviewed elsewhere [128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136] , limited by the space of this article, we will not go into detail.…”