Coil-Globule Transition in Gas-Liquid Nucleation of Polar Fluids

Gas–liquid nucleation in associating fluids

The density functional approach to nucleation is extended to the study of the condensation of associating fluids. We use Wertheim theory for associating liquids in a system of spherical interacting molecules with single association sites. Our calculations show that classical nucleation theory largely underestimates the height of the nucleation barrier in this kind of system, but most of that er...

Gas–liquid nucleation in two-dimensional fluids

Molecular-scale remnants of the liquid-gas transition in supercritical polar fluids.

An electronically coarse-grained model for water reveals a persistent vestige of the liquid-gas transition deep into the supercritical region. A crossover in the density dependence of the molecular dipole arises from the onset of nonpercolating hydrogen bonds. The crossover points coincide with the Widom line in the scaling region but extend farther, tracking the heat capacity maxima, offering ...

Nucleation in Gas–Liquid Transitions

The dynamic processes that lead to the formation of a new phase in pure fluids and multicomponent mixtures have become a lively area of research in physical chemistry in the past 15 years (1, 2). This burst of attention is driven by the recognition of the central role of the dynamics of phase transitions in atmospheric chemistry, chemical engineering, and material processing. However, few under...

Ion-induced nucleation in polar one-component fluids.

We present a Ginzburg-Landau theory of ion-induced nucleation in a gas phase of polar one-component fluids, where a liquid droplet grows with an ion at its center. By calculating the density profile around an ion, we show that the solvation free energy is larger in gas than in liquid at the same temperature on the coexistence curve. This difference much reduces the nucleation barrier in a metas...