Related papers: Molecular mechanism of heterogeneous ice nucleatio…
The formation of ice in the atmosphere affects precipitation and cloud properties, and plays a key role in the climate of our planet. Although ice can form directly from liquid water at deeply supercooled conditions, the presence of foreign…
Ice-nucleating proteins (INPs) are a unique class of biological macromolecules that catalyze the freezing of supercooled water far more efficiently than homogeneous nucleation. Their remarkable efficiency has motivated applications across…
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…
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…
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…
Freezing of water is arguably one of the most common phase transitions on Earth and almost always happens heterogeneously. Despite its importance, we lack a fundamental understanding of what makes substrates efficient ice nucleators. Here…
Heterogeneous nucleation is the main path to ice formation on Earth. The ice nucleating ability of a certain substrate is mainly determined by both molecular interactions and the structural mismatch between the ice and the substrate…
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.…
Microcline feldspar (KAlSi$_3$O$_8$) is a common mineral with important roles for Earth's ecological balance. It participates in the carbon, potassium, and water cycles, contributing to CO$_2$ sequestration, soil formation, and atmospheric…
What makes a material a good ice nucleating agent? Despite the importance of heterogeneous ice nucleation to a variety of fields, from cloud science to microbiology, major gaps in our understanding of this ubiquitous process still prevent…
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…
Most ice in nature forms thanks to impurities which boost the exceedingly low nucleation rate of pure supercooled water. However, the microscopic details of ice nucleation on these substances remain largely unknown. Here, we have unraveled…
We show that condensation is an efficient particle growth mechanism, leading to growth beyond decimeter-sized pebbles close to an ice line in protoplanetary discs. As coagulation of dust particles is frustrated by bouncing and…
Although still poorly understood, the chemistry that occurs on the surfaces of interstellar dust particles profoundly affects the growth of molecules in the interstellar medium. An important set of surface reactions produces icy mantles of…
Models and observations suggest that ice-particle aggregation at and beyond the snowline dominates the earliest stages of planet-formation, which therefore is subject to many laboratory studies. However, the pressure-temperature gradients…
The formation of ice in mixed phase clouds greatly impacts Earths hydrologic cycle. The intensity, distribution and frequency of precipitation as well as radiative properties of clouds in the mid latitudes are strongly influenced by the…
In this letter, we performed molecular dynamics simulations of ice nucleation on a rigid surface model of cubic zinc blende structure with different surface dipole strength and orientation. It follows that, despite the excellent lattice…
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…
Ice nucleation is a process of great relevance in physics, chemistry, technology and environmental sciences, much theoretical and experimental efforts have been devoted to its understanding, but still it remains a topic of intense research.…
Ice nucleation is greatly important in areas as diverse as climate change, cryobiology, geology or food industry. Predicting the ability of a substrate to induce the nucleation of ice from supercooled water is a difficult problem. Here, we…