ice (Photo : REUTERS/MARCOS BRINDICCI)
There is a form of water ice which can exist at room temperature. This form of ice is formed in really thin and fragile pockets of a graphene sheet and takes the shape of a 2D square, UT San Diego reported.
Unlike the conventional hexagonal shape of ice which is formed in snowflakes, this form of ice reportedly takes up the shape of a square, when appropriate pressure is applied on it. Also, there is a possibility that some of the human body organs can propagate such an environment and give birth to 2 D ice under room temperature.
Although this discovery cannot be termed as breakthrough at the moment as it does not have any immediate implications which can be taken up for practical uses, but it has opened up a huge gateway for scientists to probe into the matter further.
According to Nature, it is because of the various unique properties of graphene that this discovery was possible. Graphene has atom thick carbon sheets in its structure which are very sturdy and get the atoms to be locked in a square pattern. So when the water droplets are pressed hard enough in to these sheets, they assume the shape of the squares and seep in to the gaps between the carbon atoms.
Scientists tried to put another sheet of graphene over the already harnessed sheet of water ice and graphene and applied a lot of pressure on it until there was less than a nanometer of gap between them. This resulted in a water ice and graphene sandwich. This could lead to mass improvement in the medical sector where this technique can be used to clean thin pipes through water ice.
