Researchers led by physicist Alexis Forestier from the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) have successfully observed a new crystal structure of water under extreme pressure and temperature in laboratory conditions.
elchi reports that water, which is normally expected to transition to a gas phase or decompose into its constituent atoms under ordinary conditions, enters an exotic state because it cannot expand under high pressure.
Using diamond anvil cells and laser heating techniques, scientists subjected water samples to a pressure of 2.3 million atmospheres (230 gigapascals) and a temperature of 2630 Kelvin (approximately 2357 degrees Celsius).
Analysis conducted via synchrotron X-ray diffraction showed that the water transitioned into a crystal structure known as “hexagonal close-packed” (hcp) and exhibited “superionic” properties.
Oxygen remains stable while hydrogen moves
Superionic ice is defined as an exotic state of matter that is considered neither fully solid nor fully liquid. In this structure, oxygen atoms remain fixed in a solid crystal lattice, while hydrogen nuclei move freely as they do in a liquid.
It has been determined that superionic ice, previously observed in a face-centered cubic (fcc) structure, transforms into an hcp structure as pressure and temperature increase. Experiments showed a mixed structure at 155 gigapascals and 2000 Kelvin, while the hcp structure became completely dominant at 219 gigapascals and 2630 Kelvin.
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