Interfacial ice sprouting during salty water droplet freezing

Icing of seawater droplets is capable of causing catastrophic damage to vessels, buildings, and human life, yet it also holds great potential for enhancing applications such as droplet-based freeze desalination and anti-icing of sea sprays. While large-scale sea ice growth has been investigated for decades, the icing features of small salty droplets remain poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that salty droplet icing is governed by salt rejection-accompanied ice crystal growth, resulting in freezing dynamics different from pure water. Aided by the observation of brine films emerging on top of frozen salty droplets, we propose a universal definition of freezing duration to quantify the icing rate of droplets…

• MO
  Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

  Award: WPI-I2CNER
• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 52236006, 52376061, 52206068
• II
  International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research, Kyushu University

  Award: WPI-I2CNER