Controlling Nucleation & Growth to Deliver Novel Materials Functionality
University of Bath: Johannes Zimmer (PI)
University of Bristol: Isaac Chenchiah
Cardiff University: Stefano Leoni
University of Exeter: David Wright
Background
In materials, nucleation is the formation of a new stable phase or structure via self-organisation. It manifests in many everyday phenomena, and a classic example is the formation of ice crystals in water. Nucleation also underpins many processes of high technological importance, ranging from classic engineering manufacturing such as casting, through phase transformations for data storage devices to self-assembly in nanotubes.
Nucleation is a topic of rapidly growing interest in a highly interdisciplinary environment, since
- Nucleation is key to designing and controlling materials, in particular synthesizing novel materials with sophisticated hierarchical structures and tailored functionalities;
- Nucleation is an inherent non-equilibrium phenomenon involving many length and time scales, thus presenting an important challenge to current theories and experimental techniques;
- Nucleation can serve as a paradigm for problems beyond the realm of present computing power. Advances in rare-event techniques for nucleation can impact on seemingly unrelated areas such as pharmacology and health care.
Computational and theoretical advances in non-equilibrium processes will have far-reaching impact beyond nucleation phenomena.
The community previous held an Initiator Award: Functional Materials Far From Equilibrium.
Project summary
The community strengthened and grew over the Accelerator project period, bringing together academics (GW4 and wider) and industrial partners. Network discussions helped to identify areas of common interest, where the joint expertise could provide a solid background for funding applications. In particular, the community identified two areas to pursue: one driven by chemists, notably on non-classical nucleation and solidification of nanoparticles and the associated transition states, and one driven by the physicists with different perspectives on data storage devices. These ideas were supported by preliminary studies/research (both theory and experiments) structured into four working packages led by each of the GW4 institutes. The community published multiple papers and were successful in several grant applications, taking forward the work and collaborations identified during the Accelerator project.
