Inhibition of Ice Nucleation and Grow in Molecular Scale

The freezing of water is a spontaneous phase transition process in which a decrease in temperature is accompanied by a decrease in the Gibbs free energy of the system. This phenomenon always involves the evolution of the solid–liquid interface into the solid-ice interface, and observing the phase transition often requires focusing on the molecular scale of the change process. This section describes using molecular dynamics methods to explore the relationship between properties of water droplets and ice nucleation/growth, as well as understanding the mechanism of ice nucleation and rapid expansion. It then investigates how interfacial structure affects droplet nucleation. When a supercooled droplet comes into contact with a solid surface, rapid heat exchange takes place at the solid–liquid interface, greatly impeding phase transition for the droplet. Understanding the processes of ice nucleation and growth under different substrate conditions at the molecular scale helps in designing anti-icing materials that effectively inhibit ice nucleation and growth.