Electrofreezing effect and nucleation of ice crystals in free growth experiments

Electrofreezing is an effect where an electrostatically charged surface in contact with a supercooled liquid or an externally applied electric field significantly enhances nucleation of the solid phase. The electrofreezing effect has been used as a tool to nucleate ice and heavy ice crystals in free-growth experiments at supercooling greater than 1.5 °C. In order to nucleate ice crystals at smaller supercooling, we describe a device which uses a combination of a thermoelectric cooler and the electrofreezing effect. This system has been used to nucleate crystals at a supercooling down to 0.1 °C, but this figure is only limited by the temperature stability of the growth medium.