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
Hyerim Hwang, Yong Chan Cho, Sooheyong Lee, Yun-Hee Lee, Seongheun Kim, Yong-Jae Kim, Wonhyuk Jo, Patrick Duchstein, Dirk Zahn, Geun Woo Lee
Abstract
= 2.31). As supersaturation increases, evolution of ion clusters leads to chemical ordering, but no topological ordering, which is a precursor for forming the dense disordered regions of ion clusters at the early stage of TSN. Moreover, as the ion clusters proceed to evolve under highly supersaturated conditions, we observe the breakage of the water hydration structure indicating the stability limit of the dense liquid regions, and thus leading to nucleation. The evolution of solute clusters and breakage of hydration in highly supersaturated NaCl bulk solution will provide new insights into the detailed mechanism of TSN for many other aqueous solutions.