Ice nucleation in water droplets on glass surfaces: From micro- to macro-scale

• Surface uniformity should be carefully considered for surface-induced nucleation.
• Classical nucleation theory cannot be directly applied to non-uniform surfaces.
• Ice nucleating activity of glass surface is no longer uniform at 1 × 10−8 m2.

Ice nucleation encountered in engineering systems is often induced by solid/water interfaces. When classical nucleation theory is used to analyze ice nucleation in such systems, the uniformity of interfaces that contribute to ice nucleation must be carefully considered, because classical nucleation theory cannot be directly applied to non-uniform interfaces. In this study, to discuss the uniformity of ice nucleating activity of solid/water interfaces, ice nucleation in water droplets prepared on glass surfaces was investigated for various droplet sizes from micrometer to sub-millimeter. When the interfacial area between water and the glass surface was smaller than 1 × 10−10 m2, the ice nucleation temperature showed scatter of about 2 °C, suggesting uniformity of the interface. However, when the interfacial area was larger than 1 × 10−8 m2, the ice nucleation temperature showed large scatter, suggesting the ice nucleating activity was no longer uniform.

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