Nucleation in Polymers and Soft Matter

2014/04/01 by Xiaofei Xu, Christina L. Ting, Christina Ting +3 · 44 citations
Chemistry · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Materials Science · #Chemical physics #Chemistry #Colloid #Composite material #Copolymer #Crystallization and Solubility Studies #Material Dynamics and Properties #Materials science #Membrane #Nanotechnology #Nucleation #Physical chemistry #Physics #Polymer #Polymer science #Soft matter #Thermodynamics #nanoparticles nucleation surface interactions

paper · doi:10.1146/annurev-physchem-032511-143750

published in Annual Review of Physical Chemistry 65(1), 449-475 (Annual Reviews)

openalex publication_date 2014/04/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

Nucleation is a ubiquitous phenomenon in many physical, chemical, and biological processes. In this review, we describe recent progress on the theoretical study of nucleation in polymeric fluids and soft matter, including binary mixtures (polymer blends, polymers in poor solvents, compressible polymer-small molecule mixtures), block copolymer melts, and lipid membranes. We discuss the methodological development for studying nucleation as well as novel insights and new physics obtained in the study of the nucleation behavior in these systems.

Citations

• The nature of the liquid-vapour interface and other topics in the statistical mechanics of non-uniform, classical fluids

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