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# The auto-ionization in microscopic ice layer at hydrophilic surfaces
ABSTRACT: Water at hydrophilic surfaces forms an up to 0.5 mm thick layer of ice, anchored to the surface by hydrogen bonds. The auto-ionization of this ice behaves differently from liquid water, because of an inequality between the ionic constituents. There is a higher degree of ionization than in liquid water, and the ionic constituents are also physically compartmentalized from one another. This physical compartmentalization results from an inequality in how mobile the ions are. The hydrogen ions are free to move, but the hydroxide ions are locked with hydrogen bonds inside the molecular lattice of the solid phase. The hydrogen ions ability to diffuse allows them to escape outwards into the surrounding water, and the negative charge that builds up in the ice keeps the ejected hydrogen ions close to it. The result is that the ions and their charges are physically polarized into a negatively charged ice layer, and a positively charged layer of water on top of it. This physical compartmentalization prevents reassociation of the ions into water, and contributes to the high degree of ionization seen in the ice. The different constraints for reassociation also provide a force to grow the ice. Each new one-atom thick molecular sheet is nucleated on top of the ice from the positively charged surrounding water. Like with the auto-ionization of liquid water, the ionization increases with temperature, including heating by infrared radiation. The negative charge of the ice is stabilized by hydrostatic pressure, and the ice increases in thickness as pressure increases.