Nucleation Site Distribution Probed by Phase-Enhanced Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy
Name
1-s2.0-S2666386420302848-main.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
2.62 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
19ee38b3c7a8dd59e38d39addd6e64ce
Author(s)
Zhang, Lenan
Iwata, Ryuichi
Zhao, Lin
Gong, Shuai
Lu, Zhengmao
Xu, Zhenyuan
Zhong, Yang
Zhu, Jinlong
Cruz, Samuel
Wilke, Kyle L
Date Issued
2020
Journal
Cell Reports Physical Science
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Citation
Zhang, Lenan, Iwata, Ryuichi, Zhao, Lin, Gong, Shuai, Lu, Zhengmao et al. 2020. "Nucleation Site Distribution Probed by Phase-Enhanced Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy." Cell Reports Physical Science, 1 (12).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
© 2020 The Author(s) Nucleation site distribution is ubiquitous in many natural and industrial processes, such as liquid-to-vapor phase change, gas-evolving reactions, and solid-state material growth. However, a comprehensive understanding of nucleation site distribution remains elusive. These limitations are due to the challenge of probing micro/nanoscopic nucleation sites and inadequate statistical interpretation of the nucleation process. Here we report direct experimental observation of nucleation site distribution in droplet condensation using phase-enhanced environmental scanning electron microscopy. We also use statistical theory to demonstrate that the population of nucleation sites is governed by the Poisson distribution, whereas the nearest-neighbor distance follows the Rayleigh distribution instead of the commonly used Poisson distribution. We further show the broad applicability of these insights into nucleation site distribution to hydrogen-evolving reactions and chemical vapor deposition. Our platform, combining precise characterization and theory, advances the fundamental understanding of nucleation phenomena and guides designs from materials to devices. Nucleation is a ubiquitous phenomenon in nature and industry. However, the distribution of nucleation sites, which determines the macroscopic transport properties of various systems, remains elusive. Zhang et al. directly probe nucleation site distribution using phase-enhanced environmental scanning electron microscopy. Unified nucleation site distribution for multidisciplinary fields is demonstrated.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/J.XCRP.2020.100262
