Homogeneous Bulk, Surface, and Edge Nucleation in Crystalline Nanodroplets

The birth of a crystal is initiated by a nucleus from which the crystal grows--a dust grain in a snowflake is a familiar example. These nuclei can be heterogeneous defects, like the dust grain, or homogeneous nuclei which are intrinsic to the material. Here we study homogeneous nucleation in nanoscale polymer droplets on a substrate which itself can be crystalline or amorphous. We observe a large difference in the nucleating ability of the …