Nucleation
• Nucleation: localized formation of a distinct thermodynamic phase.
• Nucleation an occur in a gas, liquid or solid phase. Some examples of phases that may form via
nucleation include: 1) in gas: Creation of liquid droplets in saturated vapor; 2) in liquid: fromation
of gaseous bubbles, crystals (e.g., ice formation from water), or glassy regions; 3) in solid:
Nucleation of crystalline, amorphous, and even vacancy clusters in solid materials. Such solid
state nucleation is important, for example, to the semiconductor industry.
• Most nucleation processes are physical, rather than chemical.
• Nucleation normally occurs at nucleation sites on surfaces contacting the liquid or vapor.
Suspended particles or minute bubbles also provide nucleation sites. This is called
heterogeneous nucleation (Lecture 12).
• Nucleation without preferential nucleation sites is homogeneous nucleation (Lecture 10-11).
Homogeneous nucleation occurs spontaneously and randomly, but it requires superheating or
supercooling of the medium.
Ref. wikipedia website
Homogeneous Nucleation
• Compared to the heterogeneous nucleation (which starts at nucleation sites on surfaces), Homogeneous
nucleation occurs with much more difficulty in the interior of a uniform substance. The creation of a nucleus
implies the formation of an interface at the boundaries of a new phase.
• Liquids cooled below the maximum heterogeneous nucleation temperature (melting temperature), but which are
above the homogeneous nucleation temperature (pure substance freezing temperature) are said to be
supercooled. This is useful for making amorphous solids and other metastable structures, but can delay the
progress of industrial chemical processes or produce undesirable effects in the context of casting.
• Supercooling brings about supersaturation, the driving force for
nucleation. Supersaturation occurs when the pressure in the newly
formed solid is less than the vapor pressure, and brings about a change
in free energy per unit volume, Gv, between the liquid and newly created
solid phase. This change in free energy is balanced by the energy gain
of creating a new volume, and the energy cost due to creation of a new
interface. When the overall change in free energy, ΔG is negative,
nucleation is favored. (see the plot on right)
• Some energy is consumed to form an interface, based on the surface
energy of each phase. If a hypothetical nucleus is too small (known as
an unstable nucleus), the energy that would be released by forming its
volume is not enough to create its surface, and nucleation does not
proceed. The critical nucleus size can be denoted by its radius, and it is
when r = r* (or r critical) that the nucleation proceeds.
• An example of supercooling: Pure water freezes at −42°C rather than at its freezing temperature of 0°C. So, if cooled
slowly below the freezing point, pure water may remain liquid (supercooled) as you see in this movie:
http://www.eng.utah.edu/~lzang/images/supercooled-water.avi. The crystallization into ice may be facilitated by adding
some nucleation “seeds”: small ice particles, or simply by shaking --- enjoy the movie slip.
Heterogeneous Nucleation
• Heterogeneous nucleation occurs much more often than homogeneous nucleation.
• Heterogeneous nucleation forms at preferential sites such as phase boundaries or
impurities like dust and requires less energy than homogeneous nucleation. At such
preferential sites, the effective surface energy is lower, thus diminishes the free energy
barrier and facilitating nucleation. (see the plot at right)
• Surfaces promote nucleation because of wetting – contact angles greater than zero
between phases facilitate particles to nucleate. The free energy needed for
heterogeneous nucleation is equal to the product of homogeneous nucleation and a
function of the contact angle :
where
• The barrier energy needed for heterogeneous nucleation is reduced (see the plot), and less supercooling is needed.
The wetting angle determines the ease of nucleation by reducing the energy needed. It is important to note that the
critical radius remains unchanged. However, the volume can be significantly less for heterogeneous nucleation due to
the wetting angle affecting the shape of the cluster.
