Kinetics of the glass–liquid transition of water

The evolution of fluidity in glassy water films has been investigated in the temperature range 125–150 K on the basis of isothermal TOF-SIMS experiments. The initially uniform film dewets the Ni(1 1 1) substrate above 135 K, as revealed from the sputtering of Ni+ ions. The onset of dewetting marks a temperature for the structural relaxation in the glass–liquid transition, but it requires anomalously long aging time (4–20 min for 150 K > T > 135 K). The delay of structural relaxation relative to the onset of translational molecular diffusion (above 135 K) should be characteristic of supercooled liquid phase.