New type of 'ice' discovered in graphene interlayers

Scientists have discovered a new type of ice that forms between the layers of graphene oxide.

Researchers at the Korea Institute for Advanced Study and Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands used atomistic models to obtain a novel type of 'bilayer' ice.

The findings could help in the development of graphene-based filters and separators, better graphene catalysts and even anti-corrosion surfaces based on the carbon material.

Bilayer ice is a recently discovered, new type of ice that can only form in very special conditions, such as between stacked 2D materials with fixed interlayer distances.

The limited separation between the stack layers prevents ordinary 3D ice (for which the molecular structure is much better known) from forming, website 'nanotechweb.Org' reported.