Abstract
Ice is ubiquitous, and it has the unique characteristic of exhibiting many polymorphs. Although the rich polymorphism of water ice is due to the existence of hydrogen-order–disorder phases, the order–disorder transition of ice Ic remains unresolved. Through cryogenic transmission electron microscopy, we observed annealing process of ∼50-nm sized ice Ic islands on an amorphous SiN substrate at 100–130 K. Water molecules diffused freely on the surface of ice Ic and amorphous SiN under this condition, resulting the coarsening of islands. We found that ∼10 nm thick hydrogen-ordered cubic ices grew on the surface of ice Ic islands during coarsening. There might be hydrogen-ordered cubic ices on the surface of ice Ic in various objects in space.
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