Hydration breaking and chemical ordering in a levitated NaCl solution droplet beyond the metastable zone width limit: evidence for the early stage of two-step nucleation.

ABSTRACT: For over two decades, NaCl nucleation from a supersaturated aqueous solution has been predicted to occur via a two-step nucleation (TSN) mechanism, i.e., two sequential events, the formation of locally dense liquid regions followed by structural ordering. However, the formation of dense liquid regions in the very early stage of TSN has never been experimentally observed. By using a state-of-the-art technique, a combination of electrostatic levitation (ESL) and in situ synchrotron X-ray and Raman scatterings, we find experimental evidence that indicates the formation of dense liquid regions in NaCl bulk solution at an unprecedentedly high level of supersaturation (S = 2.31). As supersaturation increases, evolution of ion clusters leads to chemical ordering, but n

SUBMITTER: Hwang H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8178806 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature