Exploring New Phenomena in Salty Water Under Planetary Conditions

Abstract:

Compressed water is overspread on Earth at depth and in the extra-terrestrial space, both interstellar and on outer planets and moons (ice bodies) [1]. Under the conditions experienced in these celestial bodies water displays an incredibly rich phase diagram, including sixteen known crystalline phases, three amorphous ones, and predicted exotic properties like plasticity [2], ionization [3], and superionicity [4]. In this talk I will review our recent experimental results on salty (LiCl, NaCl, MgCl₂) water under extreme conditions including: plasticity [5], pressure-induced polyamorphism [6], salty ice crystallization under high pressure [7], and hydrogen bond symmetrisation at Mbar pressures [8].

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[2] Wang, Y., Liu, H., et al. Nat. Comm. 563 1566 (2011).

[3] Aragones, L., and Vega, C., J. Chem. Phys. 130, 244504 (2009).

[4] Cavazzoni, C., et al., Science 283, 44-46 (1999).

[5] Bove, L. E., Dreyfus, C. et al., JCP 139, 044501 (2013) ; Ruiz, G. N., Bove, L. E. et al., PCCP 16 18553–18562 (2014).

[6] Bove, L. E., Klotz, S. et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 125701 (2011); Ludl, A. A., Bove, L. E. et al., PCCP 17, 14054 (2015).

[7] Klotz, S., Bove, L. E. t al., Nat. Mat. 8, 405 (2009) ; Ludl A. A., Bove, L. E., submitted (2015).

[8] Bove L. E. , Gaal, R. et al., PNAS 112, 27 (2015).