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Extreme confinement unleashes water’s hidden electrical capabilities

Water has extraordinary electrical properties when trapped in tiny channels — a finding that calls for a re-think about key processes in biology, climate and nanotechnology.
By
  1. Neus Domingo

    1. Neus Domingo is at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.

  2. Albert Verdaguer

    1. Albert Verdaguer is at Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), E-08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.

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Water is one of the most studied substances on Earth, owing to its unique properties and ubiquity, yet it never ceases to surprise scientists by defying expectations. Writing in Nature, Wang et al.1 report that the electrical properties of water undergo a remarkable transformation when it is confined between atomically flat crystals in spaces only a few nanometres wide. The findings open up new frontiers in understanding how water behaves at its interfaces with other materials, with wide-reaching implications for many fields.

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Nature 646, 555-556 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-03128-y

References

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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