Estimation of ice–water interfacial energy based on pressure-dependent formulation of classical nucleation theory

A formulation of the classical nucleation theory is presented that includes the influence of an increased ambient pressure on the ice nucleation rate in supercooled water. Such formulation is suitable for the description of homogeneous nucleation processes observed in supercooled water droplets. The ice–water interfacial energy is deduced according to the pressure-dependent formulation of nucleation theory and the available experimental data of ice nucleation in supercooled water in the temperature range 200–240 K. The standard interfacial energy parametrization σ ( T ) = σ 0 ( T / 235.8 ) n , where T is temperature in [K], results in σ0 = 23.24 ± 1.10 mJ/m2 and n = 0.35.