SHAPE OF A NUCLEUS GROWING ON STRONGLY CURVED SURFACE OF A NANOFIBER

Abstract

The equilibrium shape of a critical nucleus has strong impact on important parameters of nucleation theory, such as nucleation rate. While on the flat substrate the growing nucleus has a shape of a spherical cap, a shape of a nucleus on a strongly curved surface of nanofiber is more complex. In the present paper we propose a simple model to estimate the deviation of the shape of the critical nucleus from the spherical one. It is shown, that the nucleus extends more in the direction of the axis of the nanofiber than in perpendicular direction, and the deviation from spherical shape is stronger in case of well wettable surfaces.