Thin water and ice films on minerals : a molecular level study

Minerals in Earth’s crust and suspended in the atmosphere form water or ice films as thin as a few nanometers to as thick as a few micrometers, and beyond. Mineral-bound water and ice films in terrestrial systems (e.g. vadose zones, permafrosts) can impact the bio(geo)chemistry of nutrients and contaminants, water cycling, as well as possible land-air exchanges in terrestrial environments. In the atmosphere, films are tied to clouds and rain formation, and can influence the absorption and scattering of solar radiation of dust mineral aerosols. Water films are, at the same time, of interest to technology. They are even of interest in the study of asteroids, comets, and planet Mars. Still, their formation on the various types of minerals common to the environment is misunderstood. The aim of this thesis is to gain fundamental insight on the roles that minerals play on forming and stabilising thin water and ice films. This work is separated in two parts, with Part A associated with Papers I-II, and Part B with Papers III-V of the appendix of this thesis. In Part A of this work (Papers I-II), water loadings and vibrational signatures of thin water films were collected on 21 different minerals (metal oxides, silicates, carbonates) relevant to terrestrial environments, atmosphere and perhaps outer-space. Measurements were made on minerals of varied (i) composition, (ii) structure, (iii) morphology, (iv) particle size and (v) surface roughness. Loadings, measured by a microgravimetric Dynamic Vapour Sorption technique, were of a few monolayers in sub-micrometer-sized particles but of several hundreds to thousands of water layers in micrometer-sized particles (Paper I). This was seen in the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra of sub-micrometer-sized particles with different hydrogen bonding environments than liquid water. Micrometer-sized particles formed liquid-like films regardless of the mineral. Similar observations were made in the spectra of the thinnest water films remaining on these minerals after long ...