초록 ▼

A dispersal pattern of hydrogen bonding sites on an ice surface is used as a template in a process for the design, selection and manufacture of synthetic ice interface dopants. Ice interface dopants are molecules which when bound to a surface of an ice crystal inhibit the incorporation of additional

A dispersal pattern of hydrogen bonding sites on an ice surface is used as a template in a process for the design, selection and manufacture of synthetic ice interface dopants. Ice interface dopants are molecules which when bound to a surface of an ice crystal inhibit the incorporation of additional water molecules into the crystal. The ice interface dopants thus inhibit ice crystal growth, recrystallization, and sublimation. Ice interface dopants can also inhibit heterogenous nucleating agents, and thus postpone or prevent ice nucleation. Exemplary dopant structures are provided that achieve near-perfect ice-bonding efficiency while being thoroughly adaptable to a wide variety of specialized ice-bonding applications. Orbital steering provides for steering lone pair orbitals of ice bonding atoms in the interface dopant to result in an optimal angular alignment with the complementary binding sites on ice.

대표청구항 ▼

[ What is claimed is:] [1.]1. A process for preparing an ice interface dopant, comprising, in the stated sequence:(1) selecting a substance that nucleates ice, as a template;(2) testing whether a non-protein molecule is structurally capable of binding to said template;(3) if said non-protein molecul

[ What is claimed is:] [1.]1. A process for preparing an ice interface dopant, comprising, in the stated sequence:(1) selecting a substance that nucleates ice, as a template;(2) testing whether a non-protein molecule is structurally capable of binding to said template;(3) if said non-protein molecule proves capable of binding to said template in step (2), testing whether said non-protein molecule inhibits ice crystal growth; and(4) if said non-protein molecule inhibits ice crystal growth in step (3), identifying said non-protein molecule as an ice interface dopant.