Condensation of supersaturated water vapor on submicrometer particles of SiO[sub 2] and TiO[sub 2].

Autor: Chen, Chin-Cheng, Chin-Cheng Chen, Tao, Chun-Ju, Chun-Ju Tao
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Chemical Physics; 6/8/2000, Vol. 112 Issue 22, 1 Diagram, 2 Charts, 10 Graphs
Abstrakt: Condensation of supersaturated water vapor on monodisperse submicrometer SiO[sub 2] and TiO[sub 2] particles is investigated in a flow cloud chamber (FCC). The dependence of the critical supersaturation S[sub cr] on particle size in the range of 15 to 120 nm and on temperature in the range of 10 to 50 °C are determined experimentally. The results show that the experimental S[sub cr] decreases with increasing particle size, at a rate in reasonable agreement with that predicted by Fletcher's version of Volmer's theory of heterogeneous nucleation, but decreases with increasing temperature at a rate higher than that predicted by Fletcher's theory. The experimental S[sub cr] is smaller than the theoretical prediction even with the line tension and surface diffusion taken into account; the particles induce heterogeneous nucleation better than theory predicts even for perfectly wetted particles. The discrepancy cannot be fully accounted for by the effects of line tension, surface diffusion, or the curvature dependence of the physical properties. The condensation of supersaturated vapor on singly-positively-charged particles with diameters of 30, 60, and 90 nm is also examined. No obvious effect of charge on S[sub cr] is observed, in agreement with the theoretical prediction. The law of corresponding states was extended to heterogeneous nucleation, and a simple correlation was obtained. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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