Fig. 8. Experimental IRI activity of PVA₂₀, PVA₁₀ and PVAm.

Mean grain size (MGS) of the ice crystals measured via splat-assay in the presence of different polymers, as a function of their concentration. The error bars represent the standard deviation for each sets of measurements. The results have been normalised relative to a PBS control. Our MD simulations are consistent with experimental results which show that PVA₂₀ is the most IRI active, with PVA₁₀ and PVAm showing far less activity even at higher concentrations. Note that a 30% MGS can be obtained for PVA₂₀ at a concentration of just 1  mg/ml, while a tenfold concentration increase would be required for PVA₁₀ to display a similar activity. The molecular weight of PVAm (DP = 580) is 25000 g/mol.