Skip to main content
Journal cover image

A microfluidic apparatus for the study of ice nucleation in supercooled water drops

Publication ,  Journal Article
Stan, CA; Schneider, GF; Shevkoplyas, SS; Hashimoto, M; Ibanescu, M; Wiley, BJ; Whitesides, GM
Published in: Lab on a Chip
January 1, 2009

This paper describes a microfluidic instrument that produces drops of supercooled water suspended in a moving stream of liquid fluorocarbon, and measures the temperatures at which ice nucleates in the drops. A microfluidic chip containing a monodisperse drop generator and a straight channel with 38 embedded resistance thermometers was placed in contact with a seven-zone temperature-control plate and imaged under a microscope with a high-speed camera. This instrument can record the freezing temperatures of tens of thousands of drops within minutes, with an accuracy of 0.4 °C. The ice-nucleation temperatures in ∼80-m drops were reported for the freezing of 37061 drops of pure water, and of 8898 drops of water seeded with silver iodide. Nucleation of ice in pure water was homogenous and occurred at temperatures between -36 and -37.8 °C, while water containing silver iodide froze between -10 and -19 °C. The instrument recorded the largest sets of individual freezing temperatures (37061), had the fastest data acquisition rate (75 measurements/s), and the best optical (3 m) and temporal (70 s) resolutions among instruments designed to study nucleation of ice. The dendritic growth of ice in 150-m drops of supercooled water at -35 °C was observed and imaged at a rate of 16000 frames/s. © 2009 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Lab on a Chip

DOI

EISSN

1473-0189

ISSN

1473-0197

Publication Date

January 1, 2009

Volume

9

Issue

16

Start / End Page

2293 / 2305

Related Subject Headings

  • Analytical Chemistry
  • 40 Engineering
  • 34 Chemical sciences
  • 09 Engineering
  • 03 Chemical Sciences
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Stan, C. A., Schneider, G. F., Shevkoplyas, S. S., Hashimoto, M., Ibanescu, M., Wiley, B. J., & Whitesides, G. M. (2009). A microfluidic apparatus for the study of ice nucleation in supercooled water drops. Lab on a Chip, 9(16), 2293–2305. https://doi.org/10.1039/b906198c
Stan, C. A., G. F. Schneider, S. S. Shevkoplyas, M. Hashimoto, M. Ibanescu, B. J. Wiley, and G. M. Whitesides. “A microfluidic apparatus for the study of ice nucleation in supercooled water drops.” Lab on a Chip 9, no. 16 (January 1, 2009): 2293–2305. https://doi.org/10.1039/b906198c.
Stan CA, Schneider GF, Shevkoplyas SS, Hashimoto M, Ibanescu M, Wiley BJ, et al. A microfluidic apparatus for the study of ice nucleation in supercooled water drops. Lab on a Chip. 2009 Jan 1;9(16):2293–305.
Stan, C. A., et al. “A microfluidic apparatus for the study of ice nucleation in supercooled water drops.” Lab on a Chip, vol. 9, no. 16, Jan. 2009, pp. 2293–305. Scopus, doi:10.1039/b906198c.
Stan CA, Schneider GF, Shevkoplyas SS, Hashimoto M, Ibanescu M, Wiley BJ, Whitesides GM. A microfluidic apparatus for the study of ice nucleation in supercooled water drops. Lab on a Chip. 2009 Jan 1;9(16):2293–2305.
Journal cover image

Published In

Lab on a Chip

DOI

EISSN

1473-0189

ISSN

1473-0197

Publication Date

January 1, 2009

Volume

9

Issue

16

Start / End Page

2293 / 2305

Related Subject Headings

  • Analytical Chemistry
  • 40 Engineering
  • 34 Chemical sciences
  • 09 Engineering
  • 03 Chemical Sciences