Binary nucleation beyond capillarity approximation

Abstract

Large discrepancies between binary classical nucleation theory (BCNT) and experiments result from adsorption effects and inability of BCNT, based on the phenomenological capillarity approximation, to treat small clusters. We propose a model aimed at eliminating both of these deficiencies. Adsorption is taken into account within Gibbsian approximation. Binary clusters are treated by means of statistical-mechanical considerations: tracing out the molecular degrees of freedom of the more volatile component, we obtain a coarse-grained system described in terms of the single-component mean-field kinetic nucleation theory, allowing an adequate treatment of clusters of arbitrary size. The model opens a route toward studying binary nucleation in complex systems with nanosized critical clusters. © 2010 The American Physical Society.