Holden, MA orcid.org/0000-0003-3060-7615, Whale, TF orcid.org/0000-0002-1062-2685, Tarn, MD orcid.org/0000-0001-5827-4125 et al. (5 more authors) (2019) High-speed imaging of ice nucleation in water proves the existence of active sites. Science Advances, 5 (2). eaav4316. ISSN 2375-2548
Abstract
Understanding how surfaces direct nucleation is a complex problem that limits our ability to predict and control crystal formation. We here address this challenge using high-speed imaging to identify and quantify the sites at which ice nucleates in water droplets on the two natural cleavage faces of macroscopic feldspar substrates. Our data show that ice nucleation only occurs at a few locations, all of which are associated with micron-size surface pits. Similar behavior is observed on α-quartz substrates that lack cleavage planes. These results demonstrate that substrate heterogeneities are the salient factor in promoting nucleation and therefore prove the existence of active sites. We also provide strong evidence that the activity of these sites derives from a combination of surface chemistry and nanoscale topography. Our results have implications for the nucleation of many materials and suggest new strategies for promoting or inhibiting nucleation across a wide range of applications.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Inst for Climate & Atmos Science (ICAS) (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemistry (Leeds) > Inorganic Chemistry (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Physics and Astronomy (Leeds) > Molecular & Nanoscale Physics |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EPSRC EP/M003027/1 EU - European Union 648661 EU - European Union GA 713664 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 21 Dec 2018 13:26 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 21:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Association for the Advancement of Science |
Identification Number: | 10.1126/sciadv.aav4316 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:140252 |