Nucleation Site Distribution Probed by Phase-Enhanced Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy
Dec 2, 2020

Congratulations to Lenan Zhang, Ryuichi Iwata, Lin Zhao, Shuai Gong, Zhengmao Lu, Zhenyuan Xu, Yang Zhong, Jinlong Zhu, Samuel Cruz, Kyle Wilke, and Professor Ping Cheng at Shanghai Jiao Tong University for their recent work of Nucleation Site Distribution Probed by Phase-Enhanced Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy featured on MIT News! In this work, we report direct experimental observation of nucleation site distribution in droplet condensation using phase-enhanced environmental scanning electron microscopy. Using statistical theory, we demonstrate that the population and spatial distribution of nucleation sites are governed by the Poisson and Rayleigh distribution, respectively. We further show the broad applicability of these insights into nucleation site distribution to hydrogen-evolving reactions and chemical vapor deposition. Our platform, combining precise characterization and theory, advances the fundamental understanding of nucleation phenomena and guides designs from materials to devices. Read more on MIT News, and read the paper here.