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In 2020, researchers reported producing ice Ic, a fully cubic form of ice, from deuterated ice XVII and confirming its structure with neutron diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The result helps distinguish ice Ic from ice Isd, a stacking-disordered material that combines cubic and hexagonal sequences and had often been called “cubic ice.”
What is cubic ice Ic?
Ice Ic is a form of ice I in which the water molecules follow a fully cubic stacking sequence. Ice Isd, by contrast, contains both cubic and hexagonal stacking sequences. That distinction matters because samples previously described as “cubic ice” were generally understood to be stacking-disordered ice I, rather than structurally pure ice Ic.
The Nature Materials study’s authors described their result as contributing to “a better understanding of ice I polymorphism and the existence of the two natural ice forms.” They reported the work on 3 February 2020.
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The ice XVII route
Leonardo del Rosso and coauthors began with a powder of deuterated ice XVII. Their precursor was prepared by annealing pristine C0 hydrate samples under dynamic vacuum; they then heated the ice XVII powder to obtain cubic ice Ic. This was a specialized laboratory synthesis, not a method of simply freezing ordinary liquid water.
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How was the structure checked?
The team used neutron diffraction on two different instruments and Raman spectroscopy to examine the material and support its structural-purity claim. These complementary measurements underpin the report that the product was ice Ic rather than a mixture of cubic and hexagonal stacking sequences.
A second laboratory route to ice Ic
In a separate paper published the same day, Kazuki Komatsu and colleagues reported making ice Ic without stacking disorder by removing hydrogen from the high-pressure form of hydrogen hydrate C2. A later Nature Materials News & Views described the two independent approaches as routes from ice XVII and high-pressure hydrogen hydrate.
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| 2020 report | Precursor | Transformation | Reported structural evidence or claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| del Rosso and coauthors, Nature Materials, 3 February 2020 | Deuterated ice XVII powder, prepared from annealed C0 hydrate under dynamic vacuum | Heating the powder | Neutron diffraction on two instruments and Raman spectroscopy; the authors reported structurally pure ice Ic. |
| Komatsu and colleagues, Nature Communications, 3 February 2020 | High-pressure hydrogen hydrate C2 | Removing hydrogen (degassing) | The authors reported ice Ic without stacking disorder. |
These were separate experiments, not a head-to-head comparison. The cited reports do not establish which route has higher yield, lower cost, or greater scalability.
Why does this result matter?
Being able to distinguish and produce the fully cubic stacking form gives researchers a clearer basis for studying ice I polymorphism. The result addresses a structural question—whether a sample is fully cubic or stacking-disordered—not a demonstrated household use or consumer application.
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In 2020, the Nature Materials paper introduced the subject as involving “more than 18 different forms of water ice”; Chemistry World reported “at least 18 known forms” that year. These are figures reported by those sources at the time, not a current, exhaustive count of ice phases.
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