We have developed an original setup using microfluidic tools allowing one to produce continuously monodisperse microreactors (≈100 nL), and to control their temperatures as they flow in the microdevice. With a specific microchannels geometry, we are able to apply large temperature quenches to droplets containing a KNO3 solution (up to 50∘C in 10 s), and then to follow nucleation kinetics at high supersaturations. By measuring the probability of crystal presence in the droplets as a function of time, we estimate the nucleation rate for different supersaturations, and confront our results to the classical nucleation theory.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0612526,
title = {A microfluidic device for investigating crystal nucleation kinetics},
author = {Philippe Laval and Jean-Baptiste Salmon and Mathieu Joanicot},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0612526},
year = {2009}
}