title: Structure and Dynamics of Confined Alcohol-Water Mixtures.
abstract: The effect of confinement between mica and graphene on the structure and dynamics of alcohol-water mixtures has been studied in situ and in real time at the molecular level by atomic force microscopy (AFM) at room temperature. AFM images reveal that the adsorbed molecules are segregated into faceted alcohol-rich islands on top of an ice layer on mica, surrounded by a pre-existing multilayer water-rich film. These faceted islands are in direct contact with the graphene surface, revealing a preferred adsorption site. Moreover, alcohol adsorption at low relative humidity (RH) reveals a strong preference of the alcohol molecules for the ordered ice interface. The growth dynamics of the alcohol islands is governed by supersaturation, temperature, the free energy of attachment of molecules to the island edge and two-dimensional (2D) diffusion. The measured diffusion coefficients display a size dependence on the molecular size of the alcohols, and are about 6 orders of magnitude smaller than the bulk diffusion coefficients, demonstrating the effect of confinement on the behavior of the alcohols. These experimental results provide new insights into the behavior of multicomponent fluids in confined geometries, which is of paramount importance in nanofluidics and biology.
authors.affiliation: Physics of Interfaces and Nanomaterials, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente , P.O. Box 217, 7500AE Enschede, The Netherlands.|Physics of Fluids and J.M. Burgers Centre for Fluid Mechanics, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente , P.O. Box 217, 7500AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Pantelis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bampoulis
authors.affiliation: Physics of Interfaces and Nanomaterials, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente , P.O. Box 217, 7500AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jorn P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Witteveen
authors.affiliation: Physics of Interfaces and Nanomaterials, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente , P.O. Box 217, 7500AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: E Stefan
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Kooij
authors.affiliation: Physics of Fluids and J.M. Burgers Centre for Fluid Mechanics, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente , P.O. Box 217, 7500AE Enschede, The Netherlands.|Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization , Am Fassberg, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Detlef
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lohse
authors.affiliation: Physics of Interfaces and Nanomaterials, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente , P.O. Box 217, 7500AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Bene
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Poelsema
authors.affiliation: Physics of Interfaces and Nanomaterials, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente , P.O. Box 217, 7500AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Harold J W
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Zandvliet
keywords: 2D diffusion; confined alcohol−water mixtures; graphene; ice crystals; mica