Interfacial mechanical properties of tetrahydrofuran hydrate-solid surfaces: Implications for hydrate management

Yanwen Lin; Tong Li; Senyun Liu; Qiao Shi; Ke Xu; Zhisen Zhang; Jianyang Wu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2022.09.081

Interfacial mechanical properties of tetrahydrofuran hydrate-solid surfaces: Implications for hydrate management

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Jan;629(Pt B):326-335. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.09.081. Epub 2022 Sep 19.

Authors

Yanwen Lin¹, Tong Li², Senyun Liu³, Qiao Shi⁴, Ke Xu⁴, Zhisen Zhang⁴, Jianyang Wu⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, Research Institute for Biomimetics and Soft Matter, Jiujiang Research Institute and Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Soft Functional Materials Research, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, PR China; Key Laboratory of Marine Materials and Related Technologies, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Marine Materials and Protective Technologies, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, PR China.
² Key Laboratory of Marine Materials and Related Technologies, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Marine Materials and Protective Technologies, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, PR China; Key Laboratory of Icing and Anti/De-icing, China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center, Mianyang Sichuan 621000, China. Electronic address: tong@nimte.ac.cn.
³ Key Laboratory of Icing and Anti/De-icing, China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center, Mianyang Sichuan 621000, China.
⁴ Department of Physics, Research Institute for Biomimetics and Soft Matter, Jiujiang Research Institute and Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Soft Functional Materials Research, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, PR China.
⁵ Department of Physics, Research Institute for Biomimetics and Soft Matter, Jiujiang Research Institute and Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Soft Functional Materials Research, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, PR China; NTNU Nanomechanical Lab, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim 7491, Norway. Electronic address: jianyang@xmu.edu.cn.

PMID: 36162390
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.09.081

Abstract

Understanding the interfacial mechanical properties between hydrate and solids is vital to designing and fabricating surfaces for hydrate management. Herein, the role of the surface wettability, the type of solid substrate and temperature on the interfacial adhesion properties of tetrahydrofuran (THF) hydrate and ice were examined by force analysis based shearing measurements and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The results showed that the adhesion strength of THF hydrate and ice on silica varies with the compositions of coating, and the adhesion strength of ice is larger than that of THF hydrate for all investigated solid substrates. Particularly, in contrast to a linear relationship between 1 + cosθ_r and hydrate adhesion on organic silanes/thiols/polymer surfaces, the hydrate adhesion on the coated inorganic glass surfaces is enhanced as a function of 1 + cosθ_r, in which θ_r is the receding contact angle. MD simulations uncovered that the adhesion strength of ice on solid substrates is dominated by the quasi-liquid water layer, however, that of hydrate is governed not only by the quasi-liquid layer but also newly formed unconventional clathrate cages. This study provides new insights and perspectives into the hydrate adhesion on solid surfaces, which is of help to develop hydrate-phobic coatings for advanced hydrate management.

Keywords: Adhesion strength; Hydrate; Ice; Molecular dynamics; Wettability.