ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Probing nanophase segregation in aqueous solutions

Abstract: In recent experiments we accidentally observed the onset of nanophase segregation in concentrated LiCl-water solutions by increasing dilution, in the deeply undercooled regime. We could assign an unexpected extra-signal observed in Traansient Grating spectra to the formation of clusters of most likely pure water of nanometre size (3-5 nm). This result was further corroborated by SANS and SAXS experiments, but the high background contribution from the cryostat prevented a quantitative analysis of the size and cluster distribution. Here we propose to take advantage of the unique Q-range of the Nimrod spectrometer to measure in a single scan the onset of the observed heterogeneities, and the evolution of the cluster distribution. The observation of nanophase segregation could provide an alternative interpretation to the highly debated liquid-liquid transition observed in aqueous solutions

Principal Investigator: Dr Livia Bove
Experimenter: Professor Fabio Bruni
Experimenter: Professor Maria Antonietta Ricci
Experimenter: Miss Violeta Fuentes-Landete
Experimenter: Ms Eleonora Stefanutti
Local Contact: Dr Tom Headen
Experimenter: Professor Thomas Loerting

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1520294

ISIS Experiment Number: RB1520294

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Livia Bove et al; (2015): Probing nanophase segregation in aqueous solutions, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1520294

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.