(22d) Phase Nucleation on Structures with Defined Geometries

Phase nucleation on substrates with different geometries arises in many important industrial processes such as condensation, crystal growth, and desalination¹. The nucleation behavior on planar or spherical surfaces has been accurately elucidated^2-3. However, on the surfaces with complex geometries, the dependence of the energy barrier for forming a critical nucleus on the geometry and the wettability remain marginally explored. Herein, we propose a theoretical model to delineate the nucleation behavior on a generalized pore structure⁴ with varying opening angles and contact angles. The proposed model can predict the volume of the critical nucleus formed within the designed pore structure with an arbitrary opening angle and contact angle. Therefore, by spontaneously changing the opening angles and contact angles, the nucleation behavior on the pore-shaped substrate can be precisely manipulated. Phase-field simulations are performed to confirm the theoretical results. Our findings provide an essential guideline for precise manipulation of nucleation behavior in designed pore structures to support potential applications for controlling self-assembled systems such as colloidal particles, block copolymers, and lipid nanoparticles.

References

1. Myerson, A. (2002). Handbook of industrial crystallization. Butterworth-Heinemann.
2. Gómez, L. R., García, N. A., Vitelli, V., Lorenzana, J., Vega, D. A. (2015). Phase nucleation in curved space. Nature Communications, 6(1), 6856.
3. Law, J. O., Wong, A. G., Kusumaatmaja, H., Miller, M. A. (2018). Nucleation on a sphere: the roles of curvature, confinement and ensemble. Molecular Physics, 116(21-22), 3008-3019.
4. Wu, Y., Wang, F., Huang, W., Selzer, M., Nestler, B. (2022). Capillary adsorption of droplets into a funnel-like structure. Physical Review Fluids, 7(5), 054004.