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Nucleation on a sphere: the roles of curvature, confinement and ensemble

Law, Jack O.; Wong, Alex G.; Kusumaatmaja, Halim; Miller, Mark A.

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Authors

Jack Law jack.o.law@durham.ac.uk
Academic Visitor

Alex G. Wong



Abstract

By combining Monte Carlo simulations and analytical models, we demonstrate and explain how the gas-to-liquid phase transition of colloidal systems confined to a spherical surface depends on the curvature and size of the surface, and on the choice of thermodynamic ensemble. We find that the geometry of the surface affects the shape of the free energy profile and the size of the critical nucleus by altering the perimeter–area ratio of isotropic clusters. Confinement to a smaller spherical surface results in both a lower nucleation barrier and a smaller critical nucleus size. Furthermore, the liquid domain does not grow indefinitely on a sphere. Saturation of the liquid density in the grand canonical ensemble and the depletion of the gas phase in the canonical ensemble lead to a minimum in the free energy profile, with a sharp increase in free energy for additional growth beyond this minimum.

Citation

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. https://doi.org/10.1080/00268976.2018.1483041

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date May 15, 2018
Online Publication Date Jun 10, 2018
Publication Date Jun 10, 2018
Deposit Date May 30, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Molecular Physics
Print ISSN 0026-8976
Electronic ISSN 1362-3028
Publisher Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 116
Issue 21-22
Pages 3008-3019
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/00268976.2018.1483041
Related Public URLs https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.12020

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