Nucleation, the birth of a stable cluster from a disorder, is inherently stochastic. Yet up to date, there are no quantitative studies on NaCl nucleation that accounts for its stochastic nature. Here, we report the first stochastic treatment of NaCl-water nucleation kinetics. Using a recently developed microfluidic system and evaporation model, our measured interfacial energies extracted from a modified Poisson distribution of nucleation time show an excellent agreement with theoretical predictions. Furthermore, analysis of nucleation parameters in 0.5, 1.5, and 5.5 pl microdroplets reveals an interesting interplay between confinement effects and shifting of nucleation mechanisms. Overall, our findings highlight the need to treat nucleation stochastically rather than deterministically to bridge the gap between theory and experiment.
Skip Nav Destination
CNT effective interfacial energy and pre-exponential kinetic factor from measured NaCl crystal nucleation time distributions in contracting microdroplets
Article navigation
15 May 2023
Research Article|
May 16 2023
CNT effective interfacial energy and pre-exponential kinetic factor from measured NaCl crystal nucleation time distributions in contracting microdroplets

Special Collection:
Nucleation: Current Understanding Approaching 150 Years After Gibbs
Ruel Cedeno
;
Ruel Cedeno
(Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – review & editing)
1
CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, CINaM (Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanosciences de Marseille)
, Campus de Luminy, Case 913, F-13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France
2
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, School of Energy Science and Engineering, Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology
, Rayong 21210, Thailand
Search for other works by this author on:
Romain Grossier
;
Romain Grossier
a)
(Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Supervision, Writing – review & editing)
1
CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, CINaM (Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanosciences de Marseille)
, Campus de Luminy, Case 913, F-13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France
a)Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: romain.grossier@cnrs.fr; adrian.flood@vistec.ac.th; and stephane.veesler@cnrs.fr
Search for other works by this author on:
Nadine Candoni
;
Nadine Candoni
(Conceptualization, Supervision)
1
CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, CINaM (Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanosciences de Marseille)
, Campus de Luminy, Case 913, F-13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France
Search for other works by this author on:
Nicolas Levernier;
Nicolas Levernier
(Conceptualization)
3
INMED, INSERM, Aix Marseille University, Turing Centre for Living Systems
, Marseille, France
4
Aix-Marseille University, Université de Toulon, CNRS, CPT (UMR 7332), Turing Centre for Living Systems
, Marseille, France
Search for other works by this author on:
Adrian E. Flood
;
Adrian E. Flood
a)
(Supervision, Writing – original draft)
2
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, School of Energy Science and Engineering, Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology
, Rayong 21210, Thailand
a)Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: romain.grossier@cnrs.fr; adrian.flood@vistec.ac.th; and stephane.veesler@cnrs.fr
Search for other works by this author on:
Stéphane Veesler
Stéphane Veesler
a)
(Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing – original draft)
1
CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, CINaM (Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanosciences de Marseille)
, Campus de Luminy, Case 913, F-13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France
a)Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: romain.grossier@cnrs.fr; adrian.flood@vistec.ac.th; and stephane.veesler@cnrs.fr
Search for other works by this author on:
a)Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: romain.grossier@cnrs.fr; adrian.flood@vistec.ac.th; and stephane.veesler@cnrs.fr
Note: This paper is part of the JCP Special Topic on Nucleation: Current Understanding Approaching 150 Years After Gibbs.
J. Chem. Phys. 158, 194705 (2023)
Article history
Received:
January 25 2023
Accepted:
March 29 2023
Connected Content
A companion article has been published:
Monitoring microdroplets to test nucleation simulations
Citation
Ruel Cedeno, Romain Grossier, Nadine Candoni, Nicolas Levernier, Adrian E. Flood, Stéphane Veesler; CNT effective interfacial energy and pre-exponential kinetic factor from measured NaCl crystal nucleation time distributions in contracting microdroplets. J. Chem. Phys. 15 May 2023; 158 (19): 194705. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0143704
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Sign In
You could not be signed in. Please check your credentials and make sure you have an active account and try again.
Sign in via your Institution
Sign in via your InstitutionPay-Per-View Access
$40.00