Related papers: Heterogeneous ice nucleation controlled by the cou…
Self-propelled particles can undergo complex dynamics due to a range of bulk and surface interactions. When a particle is embedded in a host solid near its bulk melting temperature, the latter may melt at the surface of the former in a…
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…
The nucleation of graphene on a transition metal (TM) surface, either on a terrace or near a step edge, is systematically explored using density functional theory (DFT) calculations and applying the two-dimensional (2D) crystal nucleation…
Nucleation is a key step in the synthesis of new material from solution. Well-established lattice-gas models can be used to gain insight into the basic physics of nucleation pathways involving a single nucleus type. In many situations a…
Surface icing affects the safety and performance of numerous processes in technology. Previous studies mostly investigated freezing of individual droplets. The interaction among multiple droplets during freezing is investigated less,…
Phase diagrams of some globular proteins have a fluid-fluid transition as well as a fluid-crystal transition. Homogeneous nucleation of the crystal from the fluid phase near the critical point of the fluid-fluid transition is examined. As…
Ice templating, a route where ice crystals are used to template macroporosity, has been used to process a variety of materials with one level of macropores. We demonstrate here a variant of ice templating based on the solidification of…
Computational studies of crystal nucleation can be impacted by finite size effects, primarily due to unphysical interactions between crystalline nuclei and their periodic images. It is, however, not always feasible to systematically…
Topological insulators are materials that conduct on the surface and insulate in their interior due to non-trivial topological order. The edge states on the interface between topological (non-trivial) and conventional (trivial) insulators…
Lithium disilicate glasses and glass-ceramics are good potential candidates for biomedical applications and solid-state batteries, and serve as models of nucleation and crystal growth. Moreover, these glasses exhibit a phase separation that…
We show that topological defects in an ion-doped nematic liquid crystal can be used to manipulate the surface charge distribution on chemically homogeneous, charge-regulating external surfaces, using a minimal theoretical model. In…
Crystal nucleation studies using hard-sphere and Lennard-Jones models have shown that the pressure within the nucleus is lower than that in the surrounding liquid. Here, we use the mechanical route to obtain it for an ice nucleus in…
Crystallization is one of the most important phase transformations of first order. In the case of metals and alloys, the liquid phase is the parent phase of materials production. The conditions of the crystallization process control the…
Glasses and gels are the two dynamically arrested, disordered states of matter. Despite their importance, their similarities and differences remain elusive, especially at high density. We identify dynamical and structural signatures which…
This paper presents a broad theoretical and simulation study of the high temperature behavior of crystalline alkali halide surfaces typified by NaCl(100), of the liquid NaCl surface near freezing, and of the very unusual partial wetting of…
We study the initial stages of homogeneous melting of a hexagonal ice crystal at coexistence and at moderate superheating. Our trajectory-based computer simulation approach provides a comprehensive picture of the events that lead to…
Hydrogen-bond networks govern molecular structure and function across chemistry, biology and materials science, yet their deterministic control at the atomic scale remains a central challenge (1-9).Here, we directly visualize how an…
As proteins typically have charges of around 10, they will interact strongly with charged surfaces. We calculate the electrostatic contribution to the interaction of crystals of protein with charged surfaces. The surfaces repel like-charged…
In order to accommodate an increasing demand for carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with desirable characteristics one has to understand the origin of helicity of their structures. Here, through in situ microscopy we demonstrate that the nucleation of…
We describe how surface interactions can affect the growth of ice crystal facets in contact with a substrate by lowering the normal nucleation barrier on the ice surface. We also describe how the resulting enhanced growth rates can produce…