Kinetics of condensation of adenine at the mercury ∣ electrolyte interface

The kinetics of phase transitions of adenine adsorbed on mercury are studied by chronocoulometry and chronoamperometry from aqueous 0.1 M KClO4 and 0.5 M NaF solutions. Experimental conditions have been selected to minimise, in the overall kinetic response, the contribution of the initial current decay, due to double-layer charging and the adsorption step. The transients corrected for these fast initial contributions present a peaked shape and can be described by the classical theory for nucleation and growth. The potential dependences of the rate constants of nucleation and growth have been obtained from double potential step experiments. The analysis of the condensation kinetics according to the classical nucleation theory leads to the evaluation of the line tension, and the Gibbs energy of formation of a critical cluster and its size.