D. Reguera, J. M. Rubi
Published 2003-09-08Version 1
We introduce a general formalism to analyze nucleation phenomena in inhomogeneous media which considers the influence of the metastable phase, which is treated as a heat bath in which clusters are embedded, in the dynamics of the nucleation process. A kinetic equation for the evolution of the probability density of the clusters, taking into account possible inhomogeneities in the bath, is derived using mesoscopic nonequilibrium thermodynamics. From it, we obtain the nucleation rate and analyze the role played by the metastable phase in the process. We discuss in particular condensation and polymer crystallization in a temperature gradient.
Comments: 18 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in J. Chem. Phys
Homogeneous Nucleation in Inhomogeneous Media II: Nucleation in a Shear Flow
Scaling theory for the free-energy barrier to homogeneous nucleation of a non-critical phase near a critical point
Different measures for characterizing the motion of molecules along a temperature gradient
