Effect of Evaporation on Aggregation Kinetics of Clusters: A Monte Carlo Simulation Study

Abstract

In this paper, an aggregation model suitable for an evaporation system was constructed based on the cluster-cluster aggregation model. Evaporation affects not only the diffusion and aggregation probability of clusters, but also the rate of the whole aggregation process. The analysis of the aggregation model and the evaporation properties in an open system shows that the rate of colloidal aggregation usually depends on the diffusion probability and the aggregation probability in the diffusion process. The diffusion model and aggregation model of the colloid was derived from the electric double-layer theory and the properties of the evaporation system. The evaporation model was constructed to simulate the movement of the colloid in the evaporation process. The cluster distribution was analyzed using the cluster weight average. The influence of monomer aggregation on the aggregation process was also analyzed. The results show that the cluster dominated by Brownian diffusion has a decreasing effect on the aggregation as the simulation progresses. With slow evaporation, the aggregation process is almost the same as that of the basic aggregation model, whereas with fast evaporation, the evaporation accelerates the aggregation process.