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.
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CNT effective interfacial energy and pre-exponential kinetic factor from measured NaCl crystal nucleation time distributions in contracting microdroplets
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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
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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: [email protected]; [email protected]; and [email protected]
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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
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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
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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: [email protected]; [email protected]; and [email protected]
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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: [email protected]; [email protected]; and [email protected]
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Ruel Cedeno
1,2
Romain Grossier
1,a)
Nadine Candoni
1
Nicolas Levernier
3,4
Adrian E. Flood
2,a)
Stéphane Veesler
1,a)
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
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
a)Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: [email protected]; [email protected]; and [email protected]
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
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