Selective water sorbents for multiple applications .3. CaCl2 solution confined in micro- and mesoporous silica gels: Pore size effect on the ''solidification-melting'' diagram

In this communication we present a low-temperature ''solidification-melting'' phase diagram for CaCl2/H2O solutions confined in KSK and KSM silica gels. At salt concentrations of 0-48 wt.%, the diagram has been found to he below the diagram reported for the bulk system by 15-30 degrees C. It shows a depression of the solution melting point due to its confinement to the pores. Several other peculiarities of melting and solidification in this system are also reported and discussed. Beside fundamental interest, the data obtained could be of importance in many commercial areas such as refrigeration, accumulation of low temperature heat, frost prevention in building materials, etc.