The motion of microstructural interfaces is important in modeling materials that undergo twinning and structural phase transformations. Continuum models fall into two classes: sharp-interface models, where interfaces are singular surfaces; and regularized-interface models, such as phase-field models, where interfaces are smeared out. The former are challenging for numerical solutions because th...

The motion of microstructural interfaces is important in modeling materials that undergo twinning and structural phase transformations. Continuum models fall into two classes: sharp-interface models, where interfaces are singular surfaces; and regularized-interface models, such as phase-field models, where interfaces are smeared out. The former are challenging for numerical solutions because th...

We study how FeO wüstite films on Ru(0001) grow by oxygen-assisted molecular beam epitaxy at elevated temperatures (800–900 K). The nucleation and growth of FeO islands are observed in real time by low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM). When the growth is performed in an oxygen pressure of 10(−6) Torr, the islands are of bilayer thickness (Fe–O–Fe–O). In contrast, under a pressure of 10(−8) Tor...

The nucleation of cavities in a homogenous polymer under tensile strain is investigated in a coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation. In order to establish a causal relation between local microstructure and the onset of cavitation, a detailed analysis of some local properties is presented. In contrast to common assumptions, the nucleation of a cavity is neither correlated to a local loss o...

Through in situ quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) monitoring, we resolve the growth of a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) and subsequent metal oxide deposition with high resolution. We introduce the fitting of mass deposited during each atomic layer deposition (ALD) cycle to an analytical island-growth model that enables quantification of growth inhibition, nucleation density, and the uninhibited...

A fluid in equilibrium in a finite volume V with particle number N at a density ρ=N/V exceeding the onset density ρ_{f} of freezing may exhibit phase coexistence between a crystalline nucleus and surrounding fluid. Using a method suitable for the estimation of the chemical potential of dense fluids, we obtain the excess free energy due to the surface of the crystalline nucleus. There is neither...

The chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method to obtain tailored graphene as a transparent and flexible gas barrier has been developed. By separating nucleation step from growth, we could reduce early graphene nucleation density and thus induce better stitching between domain boundaries in the second growth step. Furthermore, two step growth in conjunction with electrochemical polishing of Cu foil...

We present a density-functional theory for binary mixtures of amphiphiles with solvent, placing particular emphasis on the structure and free energy of stable and metastable clusters of amphiphiles in dilute solution. These correspond to micelles ~complexes of amphiphiles with the solvophobic groups clustered in the interior! and vesicles ~spherical complexes with bilayer membranes of amphiphil...

Bubble nucleation in liquid confined nanochannel is studied using molecular dynamics simulations and compared against the over smooth surfaces (i.e. without confinement). Nucleation argon achieved by heating part of a platinum surface to high temperatures surface-to-liquid algorithm implemented LAMMPS. The hydrophilicity nanochannels increased understand its effect on behaviour. Liquid structur...

We present a semiempirical approach to the density functional theory of bubble nucleation in binary mixtures. Intermolecular forces between solvent and solute molecules are modeled using Lennard-Jones potentials whose interaction parameters are determined by equilibrium properties of the pure liquids and the liquid mixtures. We study the temperature variation of the critical supersaturation for...