Adamantane in amorphous ice: A nanoprobe for detecting sintering, glass-transition and clathrate hydrate formation

Ice and carbon exist in vast quantities in our Universe. In fact, they often coexist, and form interfaces in highly diverse settings and environments. These include, for example, icy comets, which often appear black due to the carbon on their surfaces. Following the success of the recent Rosetta mission, we have prepared mixtures of amorphous ice and carbon species at low temperatures in our lab. The aim is now to study the physical and chemical properties of these cometary materials which will help explaining, for example, the weather cycles on comets. Furthermore, using neutron diffraction, we will use the carbon species as nanoprobes within the amorphous ice to learn more about its properties. Specifically, we will follow for the first time the sintering of the amorphous ice, its glass transition as well as the formation of clathrate hydrates from the viewpoint of the carbon guests.

宇宙中冰与碳的储量极为丰沛。二者常伴生共存，并在高度多样的环境与场景中形成界面。典型案例包括冰彗星——这类天体的表面因覆盖碳物质而常呈黑色。
随着近期罗塞塔任务（Rosetta mission）取得成功，我们在实验室的低温环境中制备了无定形冰（amorphous ice）与碳物种（carbon species）的混合体系。当前的研究目标是探究这类彗星物质的物理与化学性质，这将有助于阐释彗星的天气循环等现象。
此外，我们将借助中子衍射（neutron diffraction）技术，以碳物种作为无定形冰内部的纳米探针（nanoprobes），以深入了解无定形冰的相关特性。具体而言，我们将首次从碳客体的视角，追踪无定形冰的烧结过程、玻璃化转变，以及笼型水合物（clathrate hydrates）的形成过程。