Formation of a critical nucleus at a pre-existing surface or interface. Favorable wetting can replace part of the cost of a free nucleus and lower its barrier; later deposition of a free particle on a support is a different process.
Ice forms from ice-supersaturated vapour at a suitable foreign surface. The relevant temperature and surface properties differ from liquid-droplet immersion freezing.
A suitable particle colliding with a supercooled droplet can trigger heterogeneous freezing. This is distinguished from nucleation around an inclusion already inside it.
Ice nucleates on an inclusion already immersed in supercooled water. The interfacial nucleation barrier, inclusion properties, droplet volume and observation time affect freezing probability.
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