Viscosity of interfacial water regulates ice nucleation

Ice formation on solid surfaces is an important phenomenon in many fields, such as cloud formation and atmospheric icing, and a key factor for applications in preventing freezing. Here, we report temperature-dependent nucleation rates of ice for hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces. The results show that hydrophilic surface presents a lower ice nucleation rate. We develop a strategy to extract the thermodynamic parameters, J0 and Γ, in the context of classical nucleation theory. From the extracted J0 and Γ, we reveal the dominant role played by interfacial water. The results provide an insight into freezing mechanism on solid surfaces.