Impurity mediated nucleation in hexadecane-in-water emulsions

We report detailed nucleation studies on the liquid-to-solid transition of hexadecane using nearly monodisperse hexadecane-in-water emulsions. A careful consideration of the kinetics of isothermal and nonisothermal freezing show deviations from predictions of classical nucleation theory, if one assumes that the emulsion droplet population is homogeneous. Similar deviations have been observed previously. As an explanation, we propose a novel argument based on the dynamic generation of droplet heterogeneity mediated by mobile impurities. This proposal is in excellent agreement with existing data.