Polyethylene nano-droplets

/images/jcp22.png — A polyethylene droplet before and after quenching below the melting temperature (journal cover).

/images/jcp22_figure2.png — Snapshots of the crystallization process and time-dependent crystallinity for different droplet sizes.

Work by Hasan Zerze from the University of Houston, using MD simulations to study the glass transition and the nucleation and growth of crystallization in polyethylene nanodroplets of different sizes. The study found that the volumetric crystallization rate increases as the droplet size decreases.

Related publications

Nucleation and growth of crystals inside polyethylene nano-droplets, H. Zerze, J. Chem. Phys. 157, 154901 (2022). doi:10.1063/5.0105466