Related papers: Nucleation at the contact line observed on nano-te…
Contact freezing is a mode of atmospheric ice nucleation in which a collision between a dry ice nucleating particle (INP) and a water droplet results in considerably faster heterogeneous nucleation. The molecular mechanism of such…
Freezing is a fundamental physical phenomenon that has been studied over many decades; yet the role played by surfaces in determining nucleation has remained elusive. Here we report direct computational evidence of surface induced…
Heterogeneous nucleation at surface edges is pervasive across nature and industry, yet the role of line tension, arising from asymmetric capillary interactions at geometric singularities, remains poorly understood. Herein we develop a…
Surface tension plays a ubiquitous role in phase transitions including condensation or evaporation of atmospheric liquid droplets. Especially, understanding of interfacial thermodynamics of the critical nucleus of 1 nm scale is important…
Experimental investigations of hydrophobic/water interfaces often return controversial results, possibly due to the unknown role of gas accumulation at the interfaces. Here, during advanced atomic force microscopy of the initial evolution…
Despite its importance in atmospheric science, much remains unknown about the microscopic mechanism of heterogeneous ice nucleation. In this work, we perform hybrid Monte Carlo simulations of the heterogeneous nucleation of ice on a range…
We experimentally investigate the nucleation of surface nanobubbles on PFDTS-coated silicon as a function of the specific gas dissolved in the water. In each case we restrict ourselves to equilibrium conditions ($c=100%$, $T_{liquid} =…
I consider the kinetics of water freezing and show that, at small sub-zero temperatures, (i) the time of ice nucleation within the bulk water environment is enormous and therefore cannot take place either in lakes of in living cells; (ii)…
Recently-reported data suggest that bubble nucleation on surfaces with nano-sized features (cavities and posts) may occur close to the thermodynamic saturation temperature. However, according to the traditional theory of heterogeneous…
We report on the systematic investigation of the role of surface nanoscale roughness and morphology on the charging behaviour of nanostructured titania (TiO2) surfaces in aqueous solutions. IsoElectric Points (IEPs) of surfaces have been…
The main causes of energy dissipation in micro- and nano-scale wetting are viscosity and liquid-solid friction localized in the three-phase contact line region. Theoretical models predict the contactline friction coefficient to correlate…
The basic physics of nucleation in solid \hl{single-crystal} nanoparticles is revealed by a phase-field theory that includes surface energy, chemical reactions and coherency strain. In contrast to binary fluids, which form arbitrary contact…
The line-tension effects on heterogeneous nucleation are considered when a spherical lens-shaped nucleus is nucleated on top of a spherical substrate and on the bottom of the wall of a spherical cavity. The effect of line tension on the…
Crystallization of supersaturated liquids usually starts by heterogeneous nucleation. Mounting evidence shows that even homogeneous nucleation in simple liquids takes place in two steps; first a dense amorphous precursor forms, and the…
In this work, we conducted molecular dynamics simulations to study the fracture mechanism of ice crystals in a bulk phase and at ice-ice interfaces at the atomistic scale. We show that there exists a narrow disordered interfacial layer…
The microscopic mechanisms controlling heterogeneous ice nucleation are complex and remain poorly understood. Although good ice nucleators are generally believed to match ice lattice and to bind water, counter examples are often identified.…
Coarse grained molecular dynamics simulations are presented in which the sensitivity of the ice nucleation rate to the hydrophilicity of a graphene nanoflake is investigated. We find that an optimal interaction strength for promoting ice…
Ice formation is one of the most common and important processes on earth and almost always occurs at the surface of a material. A basic understanding of how the physicochemical properties of a material's surface affect its ability to form…
Ice nucleation from vapor presents a variety of challenges across a wide range of industries and applications including refrigeration, transportation, and energy generation. However, a rational comprehensive approach to fabricating…
In this work, we perform a systematic computer simulation study of ice premelting, and explore the thickness and structure of quasi-liquid layers formed at the interface of ice with substrates of different hydrophilicity. Our study shows…