Aqueous Sample Supercooling With an Immiscible Liquid Barrier
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods struggle to maintain supercooled water in a large volume, high degree of supercooling, and extended period, especially for aqueous solutions and suspensions, making it difficult to achieve long-term deep supercooling for biopreservation purposes.
Innovation Solution
The use of an immiscible liquid phase, such as mineral oil or primary alcohols, to create a sealed environment that separates the aqueous sample from air, inhibiting heterogeneous nucleation and allowing deep supercooling of large volumes of aqueous solutions and suspensions for extended periods.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If conventional methods are used to cool aqueous samples, then freezing occurs at 0°C, but supercooling below 0°C cannot be maintained for large volumes over extended periods
Solution Approach 1:
An immiscible liquid phase (such as oil) is introduced as an intermediary substance between the aqueous sample and air. This intermediary layer prevents heterogeneous nucleation at the water-air interface, enabling the aqueous sample to be supercooled below 0°C while maintaining stability for extended periods up to 100 days
Solution Approach 2:
The immiscible liquid phase creates an inert environment that isolates the aqueous sample from air and potential nucleation sites. This inert barrier prevents ice crystal formation by eliminating contact between the supercooled water and atmospheric nucleation factors, allowing prolonged maintenance of supercooled state
2Quantity of substance
If the aqueous sample volume is increased, then more biological material can be preserved, but supercooling stability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The immiscible liquid phase acts as a mediator that scales effectively with sample volume. Whether the aqueous sample is small or large (up to 100 mL), the oil layer maintains its protective function by completely covering the water surface, preventing nucleation throughout the entire volume and ensuring reliability across different scales
3Temperature
If the degree of supercooling is increased, then better biopreservation is achieved, but heterogeneous nucleation occurs more readily
Solution Approach 1:
The harmful factor of heterogeneous nucleation is extracted or removed from the system by eliminating the water-air interface. The immiscible liquid phase replaces air in contact with water, and since this liquid phase does not promote heterogeneous nucleation, ice crystal formation is prevented even at high degrees of supercooling down to -20°C or lower
Solution Approach 2:
By creating an inert environment with the immiscible liquid phase, the system becomes resistant to heterogeneous nucleation. The oil layer provides a chemically and physically inert barrier that does not facilitate ice crystal formation, allowing the aqueous sample to achieve and maintain high degrees of supercooling without premature freezing
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method enables deep supercooling of large volumes of aqueous samples to temperatures below −20°C for up to 100 days, maintaining stability against various disturbances and preserving biological samples with viability.
Implementation Method 1
applying an immiscible liquid phase of sufficient thickness to separate the aqueous sample from air
Implementation Method 2
cooling the aqueous sample to a temperature that is below 0° C.
Implementation Method 3
applying an immiscible liquid phase of sufficient thickness to separate the aqueous sample from air
Data Source
AI summary
This disclosure relates to methods of super-cooling of aqueous samples with or without biological samples. The methods involve, e.g., providing a container comprising the aqueous sample; applying an immiscible liquid phase of sufficient thickness to separate the aqueous sample from air; and cooling the aqueous sample to a temperature that is below 0° C.