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Researchers reported producing structurally pure cubic ice, known as ice Ic, by heating a powder of ice XVII made from heavy water. Neutron diffraction and Raman spectroscopy supported their finding that the material had the fully cubic molecular stacking sequence—not the mixture of cubic and hexagonal sequences found in stacking-disordered ice.
What is cubic ice Ic?
Ice Ic is a form of ice I in which water molecules follow a fully cubic stacking sequence. It is distinct from ice Isd, or stacking-disordered ice, which combines cubic and hexagonal sequences. The distinction matters because material previously described as “cubic ice” had generally been understood to be stacking-disordered ice I, rather than a structurally pure cubic phase. The authors of the 2020 study said their findings contribute to understanding ice I polymorphism and the existence of the two natural ice forms. Read the Nature Materials study.
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How did the researchers make ice Ic?
Leonardo del Rosso and colleagues started with a powder of deuterated ice XVII, a phase of heavy water. They prepared the ice XVII precursor by annealing pristine C0 hydrate samples under dynamic vacuum, then heated the powder to obtain ice Ic. This was a specialized laboratory route, not a process of simply freezing ordinary liquid water.
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To assess the structure, the team used neutron diffraction on two different instruments and Raman spectroscopy. Those measurements supported the claim that the product was ice Ic without stacking defects. The study does not provide a quantitative yield or purity percentage in the reported material summarized here.
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How does the second reported route compare?
A separate group, led by Kazuki Komatsu, reported another way to obtain ice Ic without stacking disorder on the same date. The two papers describe independent experiments, not a head-to-head comparison.
| Study | Precursor | Transformation | Structural evidence or claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| del Rosso and colleagues, Nature Materials, 3 February 2020 | Deuterated ice XVII powder, prepared from annealed C0 hydrate under dynamic vacuum | Heating the powder | Neutron diffraction on two instruments and Raman spectroscopy; the authors report ice Ic without stacking defects |
| Komatsu and colleagues, Nature Communications, 3 February 2020 | High-pressure hydrogen hydrate C2 | Removing hydrogen by degassing the hydrate | The authors report ice Ic without stacking disorder |
The available reports do not establish which route has greater yield, lower cost, or better scalability, so the routes should not be ranked on those grounds.
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Why does the finding matter?
Separating ice Ic from ice Isd gives researchers a clearer way to study ice I polymorphism: whether observed properties belong to a fully cubic arrangement or to a material with both cubic and hexagonal stacking. The 2020 result is a laboratory synthesis and structural-characterization finding. The cited studies do not establish a household method or a consumer application.
In introducing the topic in 2020, the Nature Materials authors referred to “more than 18 different forms of water ice.” Chemistry World reported “at least 18 known forms” that year. These are figures from those publications, not a current, exhaustive count of ice phases.
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Sources
- Leonardo del Rosso et al., “Cubic ice Ic without stacking defects obtained from ice XVII,” Nature Materials, published 3 February 2020.
- Background in the Nature Materials paper on ice Ic and stacking-disordered ice Isd.
- Kazuki Komatsu et al., “Ice Ic without stacking disorder by evacuating hydrogen from hydrogen hydrate,” Nature Communications, published 3 February 2020.
- Jamie Durrani, “High-purity cubic phase offers new insight into ice physics,” Chemistry World, published 5 February 2020.
- Christoph G. Salzmann and Benjamin J. Murray, “Ice goes fully cubic,” Nature Materials, published 27 May 2020.
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