By confining water in nanopores, so narrow that the liquid cannot freeze, it is possible to explore its properties well below its homogeneous nucleation temperature T _H ≈ 235 K. In particular, the dynamical parameters of water can be measured down to 180 K, approaching the suggested glass transition temperature T _g ≈ 165 K. Here we present experimental evidence, obtained from Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Quasi-Elastic Neutron Scattering spectroscopies, of a well defined decoupling of transport properties (the self-diffusion coefficient and the average translational relaxation time), which implies the breakdown of the Stokes–Einstein relation. We further show that such a non-monotonic decoupling reflects the characteristics of the recently observed dynamic crossover, at ≈225 K, between the two dynamical behaviors known as fragile and strong, which is a consequence of a change in the hydrogen bond structure of liquid water.

By confining water in a nanoporous structure so narrow that the liquid could not freeze, it is possible to study properties of this previously undescribed system well below its homogeneous nucleation temperature T _H = 231 K. Using this trick, we were able to study, by means of a Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, vibrational spectra (HOH bending and OH-stretching modes) of deeply supercooled water in the temperature range 183 < T < 273 K. We observed, upon decreasing temperature, the building up of a new population of hydrogen-bonded oscillators centered around 3,120 cm ⁻¹ , the contribution of which progressively dominates the spectra as one enters into the deeply supercooled regime. We determined that the fractional weight of this spectral component reaches 50% just at the temperature, T _L ≈ 225 K, where the confined water shows a fragile-to-strong dynamic cross-over phenomenon [Ito, K., Moynihan, C. T., Angell, C. A. (1999) Nature 398:492–494]. Furthermore, the fact that the corresponding OH stretching spectral peak position of the low-density-amorphous solid water occurs exactly at 3,120 cm ⁻¹ [Sivakumar, T. C., Rice, S. A., Sceats, M. G. (1978) J. Chem. Phys. 69:3468–3476.] strongly suggests that these oscillators originate from existence of the low-density-liquid phase derived from the occurrence of the first-order liquid–liquid (LL) phase transition and the associated LL critical point in supercooled water proposed earlier by a computer molecular dynamics simulation [Poole, P. H., Sciortino, F., Essmann, U., Stanley, H. E. (1992) Nature 360:324–328].

Pure, mixed and doped metal oxides (MOX) have attracted great interest for the development of electrical and electrochemical sensors since they are cheaper, faster, easier to operate and capable of online analysis and real-time identification. This review focuses on highly sensitive chemoresistive type sensors based on doped-SnO₂, RhO, ZnO-Ca, Sm_x-CoFe_2−xO₄ semiconductors used to detect toxic gases (H₂, CO, NO₂) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (e.g., acetone, ethanol) in monitoring of gaseous markers in the breath of patients with specific pathologies and for environmental pollution control. Interesting results about the monitoring of biochemical substances as dopamine, epinephrine, serotonin and glucose have been also reported using electrochemical sensors based on hybrid MOX nanocomposite modified glassy carbon and screen-printed carbon electrodes. The fundamental sensing mechanisms and commercial limitations of the MOX-based electrical and electrochemical sensors are discussed providing research directions to bridge the existing gap between new sensing concepts and real-world analytical applications.

The temperature dependence of the density of water, ρ( T ), is obtained by means of optical scattering data, Raman and Fourier transform infrared, in a very wide temperature range, 30 < T < 373 K. This interval covers three regions: the thermodynamically stable liquid phase, the metastable supercooled phase, and the low-density amorphous solid phase, at very low T . From analyses of the profile of the OH stretching spectra, we determine the fractional weight of the two main spectral components characterized by two different local hydrogen bond structures. They are, as predicted by the liquid–liquid phase transition hypothesis of liquid water, the low- and the high-density liquid phases. We evaluate contributions to the density of these two phases and thus are able to calculate the absolute density of water as a function of T . We observe in ρ( T ) a complex thermal behavior characterized not only by the well known maximum in the stable liquid phase at T = 277 K, but also by a well defined minimum in the deeply supercooled region at 203 ± 5 K, in agreement with suggestions from molecular dynamics simulations.

It is becoming common practice to partition glass-forming liquids into two classes based on the dependence of the shear viscosity η on temperature T . In an Arrhenius plot, ln η vs 1/ T , a strong liquid shows linear behavior whereas a fragile liquid exhibits an upward curvature [super-Arrhenius (SA) behavior], a situation customarily described by using the Vogel–Fulcher–Tammann law. Here we analyze existing data of the transport coefficients of 84 glass-forming liquids. We show the data are consistent, on decreasing temperature, with the onset of a well-defined dynamical crossover η _× , where η _× has the same value, η _× ≈ 10 ³ Poise, for all 84 liquids. The crossover temperature, T _× , located well above the calorimetric glass transition temperature T _g , marks significant variations in the system thermodynamics, evidenced by the change of the SA-like T dependence above T _× to Arrhenius behavior below T _× . We also show that below T _× the familiar Stokes–Einstein relation D / T ∼ η ^-1 breaks down and is replaced by a fractional form D / T ∼ η ^{- ζ} , with ζ ≈ 0.85.

By means of a nuclear magnetic resonance experiment, we give evidence of the existence of a fragile-to-strong dynamic crossover transition (FST) in confined water at a temperature TL=223±2K. We have studied the dynamics of water contained in 1D cylindrical nanoporous matrices (MCM-41-S) in the temperature range 190–280K, where experiments on bulk water were so far hampered by crystallization. The FST is clearly inferred from the T dependence of the inverse of the self-diffusion coefficient of water (1∕D) as a crossover point from a non-Arrhenius to an Arrhenius behavior. The combination of the measured self-diffusion coefficient D and the average translational relaxation time ⟨τT⟩, as measured by neutron scattering, shows the predicted breakdown of Stokes-Einstein relation in deeply supercooled water.