Controlling the Morphology of Amorphous Solid Water
K. P. Stevenson,
*
Greg A. Kimmel,
*
Z. Dohnálek,
*
R. Scott Smith,
Bruce D. Kay
The morphology of amorphous solid water grown by vapor deposition
was found to depend strongly on the angular distribution of the water
molecules incident from the gas phase. Systematic variation of the
incident angle during deposition using a collimated beam of water led
to the growth of nonporous to highly porous amorphous solid water. The
physical and chemical properties of amorphous solid water are of
interest because of its presence in astrophysical environments. The
ability to control its properties in the laboratory may shed light on
some of the outstanding conflicts related to this important material.
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory, Post Office Box 999, Mail Stop K8-88, Richland, WA
99352, USA.
*
These authors contributed equally to this report.
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
bruce.kay{at}pnl.gov