Abstract
In order to clarify the growth of ice crystals in a solution of silane coupling agents (SCAs), a fundamental and microscale analysis has been conducted. We investigated the growth patterns of the ice crystals experimentally using an optical microscope. It was found that some SCAs that particularly have three hydrophilic groups in a molecule prevent the ice crystals from growing towards the a-axis direction. We also investigated the ice crystal surface using a Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) in order to determine the influence of SCA molecules on the microscale surface structure. Systematic grooves on the ice crystal surface were observed. This indicates that SCA molecules are adsorbed to the ice crystal surface preventing further crystal growth and recrystallization. Furthermore, we investigated ethylene glycol and polyvinyl alcohol in the same way. A specific microscale pattern on the ice crystal surface could not be found.
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