Weak interactions between water and clathrate-forming gases at low pressures

Using scanning probe microscopy and temperature programed desorption we examined the interaction between water and two common clathrate-forming gases, methane and isobutane, at low temperature and low pressure. Water co-deposited with up to 10–1 mbar methane or 10–5 mbar isobutane at 140 K onto a Pt(111) substrate yielded pure crystalline ice, i.e., the exposure to up to ~ 107 gas molecules for each deposited water molecule did not have any detectable effect on the growing films. Exposing metastable, less than 2 molecular layers thick, water films to 10–5 mbar methane does not alter their morphology, suggesting that the presence of the Pt(111) surface is not a strong driver for hydrate formation. This weak water–gas interaction at low pressures is supported by our thermal desorption measurements from amorphous solid water and crystalline ice where 1 ML of methane desorbs near ~ 43 K and isobutane desorbs near ~ 100 K. As a result, similar desorption temperatures were observed for desorption from amorphous solid water.