Tarn, MD orcid.org/0000-0001-5827-4125, Sikora, SNF orcid.org/0000-0002-8560-8837, Porter, GCE orcid.org/0000-0001-8027-6549 et al. (2 more authors) (2021) Homogeneous Freezing of Water Using Microfluidics. Micromachines, 12 (2). 223. ISSN 2072-666X
Abstract
The homogeneous freezing of water is important in the formation of ice in clouds, but there remains a great deal of variability in the representation of the homogeneous freezing of water in the literature. The development of new instrumentation, such as droplet microfluidic platforms, may help to constrain our understanding of the kinetics of homogeneous freezing via the analysis of monodisperse, size-selected water droplets in temporally and spatially controlled environments. Here, we evaluate droplet freezing data obtained using the Lab-on-a-Chip Nucleation by Immersed Particle Instrument (LOC-NIPI), in which droplets are generated and frozen in continuous flow. This high-throughput method was used to analyse over 16,000 water droplets (86 μm diameter) across three experimental runs, generating data with high precision and reproducibility that has largely been unrepresented in the microfluidic literature. Using this data, a new LOC-NIPI parameterisation of the volume nucleation rate coefficient (JV(T)) was determined in the temperature region of −35.1 to −36.9 °C, covering a greater JV(T) compared to most other microfluidic techniques thanks to the number of droplets analysed. Comparison to recent theory suggests inconsistencies in the theoretical representation, further implying that microfluidics could be used to inform on changes to parameterisations. By applying classical nucleation theory (CNT) to our JV(T) data, we have gone a step further than other microfluidic homogeneous freezing examples by calculating the stacking-disordered ice–supercooled water interfacial energy, estimated to be 22.5 ± 0.7 mJ m−2, again finding inconsistencies when compared to theoretical predictions. Further, we briefly review and compile all available microfluidic homogeneous freezing data in the literature, finding that the LOC-NIPI and other microfluidically generated data compare well with commonly used non-microfluidic datasets, but have generally been obtained with greater ease and with higher numbers of monodisperse droplets.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | ice nucleation; homogeneous freezing; interfacial energy; water; droplet microfluidics |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Mechanical Engineering (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Physics and Astronomy (Leeds) > Molecular & Nanoscale Physics The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Inst for Climate & Atmos Science (ICAS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 02 Mar 2021 15:33 |
Last Modified: | 20 Jun 2021 08:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | MDPI AG |
Identification Number: | 10.3390/mi12020223 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:171673 |