Empty liquids represent a wide class of materials whose constituents arrange in a random network through reversible bonds. Many key insights on the physical properties of empty liquids have originated almost independently from the study of colloidal patchy particles on one side, and a large body of theoretical and experimental research on water on the other side. Patchy particles represent a family of coarse-grained potentials that allows for a precise control of both the geometric and the energetic aspects of bonding, while water has arguably the most complex phase diagram of any pure substance, and a puzzling amorphous phase behavior. It was only recently that the exchange of ideas from both fields has made it possible to solve long-standing problems and shed new light on the behavior of empty liquids. Here we highlight the connections between patchy particles and water, focusing on the modelling principles that make an empty liquid behave like water, including the factors that control the appearance of thermodynamic and dynamic anomalies, the possibility of liquid–liquid phase transitions, and the crystallization of open crystalline structures.

中文翻译：

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空液体的物理学：从片状粒子到水

空液体代表了一大类材料，其成分通过可逆键排列在随机网络中。许多关于空液体物理性质的重要见解，一方面几乎独立于对胶体斑块粒子的研究，另一方面源于对水的大量理论和实验研究。斑片状粒子代表了一系列粗粒势能，可以精确控制键合的几何和能量方面，而水可以说是任何纯物质中最复杂的相图，以及令人费解的无定形相行为。直到最近，这两个领域的思想交流才使解决长期存在的问题成为可能，并对空液体的行为有了新的认识。