The fragile-to-strong dynamic crossover transition in confined water: nuclear magnetic resonance results

By means of a nuclear magnetic resonance experiment, we give evidence of the existence of a fragile-to-strong dynamic crossover transition FST in confined water at a temperature TL =223±2 K. We have studied the dynamics of water contained in 1D cylindrical nanoporous matrices MCM-41-S in the temperature range 190–280 K, where experiments on bulk water were so far hampered by crystallization. The FST is clearly inferred from the T dependence of the inverse of the self-diffusion coefficient of water 1/D as a crossover point from a non-Arrhenius to an Arrhenius behavior. The combination of the measured self-diffusion coefficient D and the average translational relaxation time T, as measured by neutron scattering, shows the predicted breakdown of Stokes-Einstein relation in deeply supercooled water.