New microscopy technique enables detailed imaging of nucleation process

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"... A new microscopy technique has given researchers greater insight into the way that droplets and bubbles form. ...

The formation of bubbles and droplets is at the heart of many chemical processes ... Now a new scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique has enabled researchers to observe the nucleation process in more detail than ever before.

... used phase-enhanced environmental SEM to analyse nucleation site distribution during condensation, chemical vapor deposition and a hydrogen evolution reaction. With this technique ... could directly image electrons at a sub-micrometre scale, allowing them to build a detailed image of nucleation sites. ... 
showed that the density with which nucleation sites are populated is governed by a Poisson distribution, as expected. However, the spatial distribution – the nearest-neighbour distance – followed a Rayleigh distribution, which was unexpected given that chemical engineers have assumed for decades that this was also governed by a Poisson distribution. ..."

Microscopy technique enables detailed imaging of nucleation process | Research | Chemistry World Phase-enhanced environmental SEM allows researchers to probe droplet and bubble formation