Probing the critical nucleus size in tetrahydrofuran clathrate hydrate formation using surface-anchored nanoparticles

Han Xue, Linhai Li, Yiqun Wang, Youhua Lu, Kai Cui, Zhiyuan He, Guoying Bai, Jie Liu (), Xin Zhou () and Jianjun Wang ()
Additional contact information
Han Xue: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Linhai Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yiqun Wang: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Youhua Lu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Kai Cui: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhiyuan He: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Guoying Bai: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jie Liu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xin Zhou: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jianjun Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Controlling the formation of clathrate hydrates is crucial for advancing hydrate-based technologies. However, the microscopic mechanism underlying clathrate hydrate formation through nucleation remains poorly elucidated. Specifically, the critical nucleus, theorized as a pivotal step in nucleation, lacks empirical validation. Here, we report uniform nanoparticles, e.g., graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets and gold or silver nanocubes with controlled sizes, as nanoprobes to experimentally measure the size of the critical nucleus of tetrahydrofuran (THF) clathrate hydrate formation. The capability of the nanoparticles in facilitating THF clathrate hydrate nucleation displays generally an abrupt change at a nanoparticle-size-determined specific supercooling. It is revealed that the free-energy barrier shows an abrupt change when the nanoparticles have an approximately the same size as that of the critical nucleus. Thus, it is inferred that THF clathrate hydrate nucleation involves the creation of a critical nucleus with its size being inversely proportional to the supercooling. By proving the existence and determining the supercooling-dependent size of the critical nucleus of the THF clathrate hydrates, this work brings insights in the microscopic pictures of the clathrate hydrate nucleation.

Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-44378-6 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-44378-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44378-6

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().