Room temperature electrofreezing of water yields a missing dense ice phase in the phase diagram

Water can freeze into diverse ice polymorphs depending on the external conditions such as temperature ( T ) and pressure ( P ). Herein, molecular dynamics simulations show evidence of a high-density orthorhombic phase, termed ice χ, forming spontaneously from liquid water at room temperature under high-pressure and high external electric field. Using free-energy computations based on the Einstein molecule approach, we show that ice χ is an...