Ion-induced nucleation: A density functional approach

Density functional theory is applied to ion-induced nucleation of dipolar molecules. The predicted reversible work shows a sign preference, resulting in a difference in the nucleation rate by a factor of 10–102, for realistic values of model parameters. The sign effect is found to decrease systematically as the supersaturation is increased. The asymmetry of a molecule is shown to be directly responsible for the sign preference in ion-induced nucleation.