Revealing the role of liquid preordering in crystallisation of supercooled liquids.

ABSTRACT: The recent discovery of non-classical crystal nucleation pathways has revealed the role of fluctuations in the liquid structural order, not considered in classical nucleation theory. On the other hand, classical crystal growth theory states that crystal growth is independent of interfacial energy, but this is questionable. Here we elucidate the role of liquid structural ordering in crystal nucleation and growth using computer simulations of supercooled liquids. We find that suppressing the crystal-like structural order in the supercooled liquid through a new order-killing strategy can reduce the crystallisation rate by several orders of magnitude. This indicates that crystal-like liquid preordering and the associated interfacial energy reduction play an essential role in nucleation and gro

SUBMITTER: Hu YC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9352720 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature