Pressure amorphized ices – an atomistic perspective

Abstract

We offer our viewpoint on the nature of amorphous ices produced by pressurization of crystalline ice Ih and the inter-relationship between them from an atomistic perspective. We argue that the transformation of high density amorphous (HDA) ice from crystalline ice is due to a mechanical process arising from the instability of the ice Ih structure. The densification of HDA upon thermal annealing under pressure is a relaxation process. The conversion of the densified amorphous ice to a lower density form (LDA) upon the release of pressure can be attributed to a similar process. It is speculated that amorphous ices are metastable frustrated structures due to the large activation barriers associated with proton reorientation in the formation of the underlying stable crystalline ice polymorphs.