Control of ice growth by the enhancement of movement of bio-inspired substances in water using an electric field and an acoustic field

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K18823
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 19:Fluid engineering, thermal engineering, and related fields
• Research Institution: Kyoto Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Hagiwara Yoshimichi 京都工芸繊維大学, 機械工学系, 特定教授 (50144332)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 和久 友則 京都工芸繊維大学, 分子化学系, 助教 (30548699)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-06-29 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 凍結 / 生物由来物質 / 不凍ペプチド / セルロースナノファイバー / 電場

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We carried out experiments on the freezing of water with antifreeze peptide and cellulose nanofibers in a narrow space between two cover glasses and inside a mini pipe. The results in the case of unidirectional freezing showed that by adding electric fields the ice growth rate in the antifreeze peptide solutions decreased. Although the interface temperature decreased in water with the cellulose nanofiber, there was no effect of electric field addition. In the case of mini pipe flow, irrespective of the flow velocity, the supercooling temperature decreased only for the peptide solutions. Even if the electric fields were imposed, the supercooling was not enhanced for the water flow with antifreeze peptide and cellulose nanofibers. Finally, irrespective of the flow velocity of pure water, the ice growth was delayed by coating the antifreeze peptide on the inner surface of the pipes.

Free Research Field

熱工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

生物の優れた機能・物質から着想を得た新しい機能・物質を見出すこと、それらを用いて新しい手法・技術を開発確立することを柱とする「生物から着想を得た工学」の発展に大いに寄与する。食材と食品の保存、幹細胞と移植用組織・臓器の保存の分野において、高い安全性を保ちつつ省（減）エネルギー化を実現できる。