Pore-size dependence and characteristics of water diffusion in slit-like micropores

The temperature dependence of the dynamics of water inside microporous activated carbon fibers (ACF) is investigated by means of incoherent elastic and quasi- elastic neutron scattering techniques. The aim is to evaluate the effect of increasing pore size on the water dynamics in these primarily hydrophobic slit-shaped channels. Using two different micropore sizes (\sim 12 and 18 Å, denoted respectively ACF-10 and ACF-20), a clear suppression of the mobility of the water molecules is observed as the pore gap or temperature decreases. This suppression is accompanied by a systematic dependence of the average translational diffusion coefficient Dr and relaxation time <τ_0> of the restricted water on pore size and temperature. The observed Dr values are tested against a proposed scaling law, in which the translational diffusion coefficient Dr of water within a nanoporous matrix was found to depend solely on two single parameters, a temperature independent translational diffusion coefficient Dc associated with the water bound to the pore walls and the ratio θ of this strictly confined water to the total water inside the pore, yielding unique characteristic parameters for water transport in these carbon channels across the investigated temperature range.

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