Numerical investigation of effects of particle properties on nucleation process in a sulfuric acid–water vapor mixture: Homogeneous versus heterogeneous

Abstract

The pollution caused by sulfuric acid mist emissions has attracted attention due to demand of low emissions. In this work, molecular dynamics simulation was used to investigate effects of particle properties on nucleation process in a sulfuric acid–water vapor mixture. The effects of particle properties, including particle-vapor interaction and particle shape was analyzed in detail. The results show that with the increase of the particle-vapor interaction, heterogeneous nucleation gradually occupies an advantage in the competition with homogeneous nucleation. For non-spherical particles, the vapor molecules are more prone to heterogeneous nucleation on the flat surface.