Phase separation by nucleation and by spinodal decomposition: fundamentals

摘要

One of the most promising applications of supercritical fluids is in materials processing [1]. Interest is driven by the possibility of making highly pure materials, with desirable and controllable properties, under mild operating conditions, and with minimal downstream processing. There are many routes to the formation of solid phases from a supercritical medium, but they all involve one of two fundamental mechanisms of phase separation, nucleation or spinodal decomposition. A clear understanding of these two basic processes is necessary for the engineering design of processes involving the formation of solid phases from a supercritical medium. This article reviews the fundamentals of nucleation and of spinodal decomposition.