Cold and supercooled water: A novel supercritical-fluid solvent

Abstract

Peculiar properties of fluid mixtures in the vicinity of the critical point of the pure solvent are commonly used in supercritical-fluid technologies, such as fluid extraction, enhanced oil recovery, supercritical chromatography, and micronization. These properties are linked to critical-point anomalies, in particular, very large compressibility and very low interfacial tension. Water, near its vapor-liquid critical point, as a supercritical solvent, is well studied, in contrast to supercooled water. However, more recently, many scientists have started to believe that deep in supercooled region, not directly accessible to bulk-water experiments, there exists a critical point of liquid-liquid separation (“liquid water polyamorphism”). If the water liquid-liquid critical point exists, the addition of a solute will generate critical lines emanating from the pure-water critical point. The phenomenon would be conceptually similar to what is known near the vapor-liquid critical point and what is commonly exploited in supercritical-fluid science and technology. This new idea has not yet been elaborated. The investigation of aqueous systems below the freezing temperature of pure water would not only shed light on the nature of plausible water polyamorphism, but also could open the way for utilizing cold water as a novel and unusual supercritical-fluid solvent.