New method for vitrifying water and other liquids by rapid cooling of their aerosols

A method for the vitrification of pure liquid water and dilute aqueous solutions is described which is the only one without a liquid cryomedium for heat transfer: rapid cooling of aqueous aerosol droplets on a solid cryoplate. This method is not limited to water and aqueous solutions, but can be used for the vitrification of any liquid aerosol, the only impurity being some codeposited vapor. The method can be applied in diverse fields such as cryobiology, cryomicroscopy, and low-temperature spectroscopy of water and dilute aqueous solutions to avoid the formation of crystalline ice.