Structure analysis of nano-ice crystals in rapidly frozen sugar solutions using polarized small-angle neutron scattering

Kumada, Takayuki   ; Nakabe, Rintaro; Nakagawa, Hiroshi   

Spin-contrast-variation (SCV) small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) is a technique that determines nanostructures of composite materials from the proton-polarization-dependent polarized neutron scattering curves. We utilized the SCV-SANS technique to determine the structure of nanoice crystals generated in rapidly frozen sugar solutions. We found that the nanoice crystals generated in 45 and 52 wt% glucose solutions have a planar structure with a thickness of 2-3 nm, which was close to the critical nucleation size of ice crystals in supercooled water.