Refined Structure of Metastable Ice XVII from Neutron Diffraction Measurements

The structure of the recently identified metastable ice XVII, obtained by release of hydrogen from the C$_0$ D$_2$O-H$_2$ compound (filled ice), has been accurately measured by neutron powder diffraction. The diffraction pattern is indexed with a hexagonal cell and can be refined with space group $P6_122$ so to obtain accurate values of the oxygen and deuterium positions. The values of the lattice constants at three temperatures between 25 to 100 K are reported, and their behavior is compared with that of ice Ih. Ice XVII is a porous solid that, if exposed to H$_2$ gas, may adsorb a substantial amount of it. Monitoring this effect at a constant temperature of 50 K, we have observed that the two lattice constants show opposite behavior, $a$ increases and $c$ decreases, with the volume showing a linear increase. At temperatures higher than 130 K the metastability of this form of porous ice is lost and the sample transforms into ice Ih

Quantum calculation of inelastic neutron scattering spectra of a hydrogen molecule inside a nanoscale cavity based on rigorous treatment of the coupled translation-rotation dynamics

We present a quantum methodology for the calculation of the inelastic neutron scattering (INS) spectra of an ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}$ molecule confined in a nanoscale cavity. Our approach incorporates the coupled five-dimensional translation-rotation (TR) energy levels and wave functions of the guest molecule. The computed INS spectra are highly realistic and reflect in full the complexity of the coupled TR dynamics on the anisotropic potential energy surfaces of the confining environment. Utilizing this methodology, we simulate the INS spectra of $p$- and $o$-H${}_{2}$ in the small cage of the structure II clathrate hydrate and compare them with the experimental data

Ice XVII as a Novel Material for Hydrogen Storage

Hydrogen storage is one of the most addressed issues in the green-economy field. The latest-discovered form of ice (XVII), obtained by application of an annealing treatment to a H 2 -filled ice sample in the C 0 -phase, could be inserted in the energy-storage context due to its surprising capacity of hydrogen physisorption, when exposed to even modest pressure (few mbars at temperature below 40 K), and desorption, when a thermal treatment is applied. In this work, we investigate quantitatively the adsorption properties of this simple material by means of spectroscopic and volumetric data, deriving its gravimetric and volumetric capacities as a function of the thermodynamic parameters, and calculating the usable capacity in isothermal conditions. The comparison of ice XVII with materials with a similar mechanism of hydrogen adsorption like metal-organic frameworks shows interesting performances of ice XVII in terms of hydrogen content, operating temperature and kinetics of adsorption-desorption. Any application of this material to realistic hydrogen tanks should take into account the thermodynamic limit of metastability of ice XVII, i.e., temperatures below about 130 K

VSI@ESS: Case study for a vibrational spectroscopy instrument at the european spallation source

Neutron Vibrational Spectroscopy is a well-established experimental technique where elementary excitations at relatively high frequency are detected via inelastic neutron scattering. This technique attracts a high interest in a large fraction of the scientific community in the fields of chemistry, materials science, physics, and biology, since one of its main applications exploits the large incoherent scattering cross section of the proton with respect to all the other elements, whose dynamics can be spectroscopically detected, even if dissolved in very low concentration in materials composed of much heavier atoms. We have proposed a feasibility study for a Vibrational Spectroscopy Instrument (VSI) at the European Spallation Source ESS. Here, we will summarize the preliminary design calculations and the corresponding McStas simulation results for a possible ToF, Inverted Geometry, VSI beamline

VSI@ESS: Case study for a vibrational spectroscopy instrument at the european spallation source

Neutron Vibrational Spectroscopy is a well-established experimental technique where elementary excitations at relatively high frequency are detected via inelastic neutron scattering. This technique attracts a high interest in a large fraction of the scientific community in the fields of chemistry, materials science, physics, and biology, since one of its main applications exploits the large incoherent scattering cross section of the proton with respect to all the other elements, whose dynamics can be spectroscopically detected, even if dissolved in very low concentration in materials composed of much heavier atoms. We have proposed a feasibility study for a Vibrational Spectroscopy Instrument (VSI) at the European Spallation Source ESS. Here, we will summarize the preliminary design calculations and the corresponding McStas simulation results for a possible ToF, Inverted Geometry, VSI beamline

Spectroscopic and thermodynamic properties of molecular hydrogen dissolved in water at pressures up to 200 MPa

We have measured the Raman Q-branch of hydrogen in a solution with water at a temperature of about 280 K and at pressures from 20 to 200 MPa. From a least-mean-square fitting analysis of the broad Raman Q-branch, we isolated the contributions from the four lowest individual roto-vibrational lines. The vibrational lines were narrower than the pure rotational Raman lines of hydrogen dissolved in water measured previously, but significantly larger than in the gas. The separations between these lines were found to be significantly smaller than in gaseous hydrogen and their widths were slightly increasing with pressure. The lines were narrowing with increasing rotational quantum number. The Raman frequencies of all roto-vibrational lines were approaching the values of gas phase hydrogen with increasing pressure. Additionally, from the comparison of the integrated intensity signal of Q-branch of hydrogen to the integrated Raman signal of the water bending mode, we have obtained the concentration of hydrogen in a solution with water along the 280 K isotherm. Hydrogen solubility increases slowly with pressure, and no deviation from a smooth behaviour was observed, even reaching thermodynamic conditions very close to the transition to the stable hydrogen hydrate. The analysis of the relative hydrogen concentration in solution on the basis of a simple thermodynamic model has allowed us to obtain the molar volume for the hydrogen gas/water solution. Interestingly, the volume relative to one hydrogen molecule in solution does not decrease with pressure and, at high pressure, is larger than the volume pertinent to one molecule of water. This is in favour of the theory of hydrophobic solvation, for which a larger and more stable structure of the water molecules is expected around a solute molecule. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC

Raman Measurements of Pure Hydrogen Clathrate Formation from a Supercooled Hydrogen–Water Solution

The nucleation and growth of a solid clathrate hydrate from the liquid phase is a process that is even less understood and more difficult to study than the nucleation of a solid phase from a pure liquid. We have employed in situ Raman spectroscopy to study the hydrogen–water supercooled solution undergoing clathrate formation at a pressure of about 2 kbar and temperature of 263 K. Raman light scattering detects unambiguously the H₂ molecules inside of clathrate crystallites, which change stoichiometry during growth. The spectral intensity of the hydrogen vibrational band shows the time evolution of the population of the large and small cages, demonstrating that, in the initial stages of clathrate formation, the occupation of the large cages is quite lower than its equilibrium value. From the measurement of the growth rate of the crystallites, we demonstrate that the growth of the clathrate in the liquid is a diffusion-limited process