Wj. Wu et Gh. Nancollas, INTERFACIAL FREE-ENERGIES AND CRYSTALLIZATION IN AQUEOUS-MEDIA, Journal of colloid and interface science, 182(2), 1996, pp. 365-373
Hitherto, most discussions of nucleation phenomena have been concerned
with the condensation of vapors. In this paper, thermodynamic argumen
ts are presented to show that such classical nucleation models are ina
dequate for interpreting nucleation in aqueous media The use of the Yo
ung equation involving force balance solutions is applicable only for
uncharged interfacial systems. To avoid the involvement of a contact a
ngle concept, which provides little kinetic information about heteroge
neous nucleation, the present paper is concerned with the use of inter
facial measurements to calculate the rates of these reactions. The met
hod is illustrated by calculation of a rate of heterogeneous nucleatio
n of hydroxyapatite at elastin surfaces (4.4 x 10(-8) mol min(-1) m(-2
)) that is close to the value, 3.9 x 10(-8) mol min(-1) m(-2), reporte
d in the literature. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.