Bulk versus thin-film critical cooling rate of water

Ascertain whether the critical cooling rate for vitrification of pure water in bulk samples is higher or lower than the critical cooling rate measured in 206 nm thick amorphous solid water films prepared on multilayer graphene and flash frozen using shaped microsecond laser pulses.

Background

The authors directly measured the critical cooling rate of pure water in 206 nm thick amorphous solid water films, where surface nucleation likely contributes to crystallization kinetics. The influence of sample thickness and the transition from thin-film behavior to bulk behavior can change the dominant nucleation mechanism and growth dynamics.

Understanding whether the bulk critical cooling rate is higher or lower than the thin-film value is important for generalizing vitrification requirements and for comparing experimental geometries used in cryo-EM and cryopreservation.