Towards understanding the origin of the pore clogging in single-digit nanoconfinement

In bulk solutions, nucleation pathways occur via multi-step mechanisms with nanoscale intermediates that start to be well characterized. In Single-Digit Nanoconfinement (SDN) the nucleation reactions and the intermediates are still unknown. The objective here is to study the impact of electrolytes that tend to form ion pairs on the phase formation into silica SDN that leads to SDN clogging. To reach this goal, 2, 3 and 4 nm nanochannel samples, already filled with water will be immersed in electrolyte solutions of Xn(SO4)m or XIn (n=1, 2 and 3; m=1 and 3; and X: Na, Cs, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Y, Nd) and characterized using Hard-ray reflectivity. The adsorption and the diffusion of electrolyte in the nanochannels will be determined and compared with those obtained previously with XCln 1M solutions. Coupled to potential mean force calculation, these results will clarify the nature of intermediates at the origin of phase formation in SDN.