Ice nucleation on microcline (001) in the absence of active sites

Ice nucleation on microcline (001) in the absence of active sites | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Ice nucleation on microcline (001) in the absence of active sites Florian Schneider, Rasmus Nilsson, Ralf Bechstein, Hans-Georg Stammler, and 4 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9170796/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Heterogeneous ice nucleation is at the heart of a wide range of technological and natural fields ranging from cryopreservation 1 and the development of anti-icing coatings 2–4 to the glaciation of clouds 5–11 . The latter process has a profound impact on Earth’s climate as it changes major physical properties, such as the albedo and precipitation efficiency 6,7 . Of the many different ice-nucleating mineral particles, dust from feldspar mineral microcline stands out as being particularly active 11–17 . However, why microcline outperforms other particles remains a puzzle. Here, we use nanoscale imaging to show that the (001) surface of microcline is able to induce ice nucleation in the absence of active sites. In contrast, for the closely related feldspar sanidine, ice nucleation is dominant at step edges as expected. Atomistic simulations suggest that the ice nucleation is induced by a lattice match between the higher index (10.4) plane of hexagonal ice and microcline. Our findings provide a nanoscopic explanation for microcline’s exceptional ice nucleation ability and demonstrate the importance of taking higher-index surfaces into account. We expect that the latter insight will enhance our understanding of nucleation processes in nature and our ability to create materials with outstanding ice nucleating abilities. Physical sciences/Physics/Condensed-matter physics/Surfaces, interfaces and thin films Earth and environmental sciences/Climate sciences/Atmospheric science/Atmospheric chemistry Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9170796","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":615443575,"identity":"3b45dcf9-82d0-4978-8460-43b6bc5ee1d4","order_by":0,"name":"Florian 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Vienna","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tobias","middleName":"","lastName":"Dickbreder","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-19 14:42:05","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9170796/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9170796/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106414925,"identity":"529fe982-131a-4415-a035-2b12120c77cc","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-08 10:30:37","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1697952,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"20260319SchneiderSubmissionNature.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9170796/v1_covered_68d3343a-7ed7-49a0-a246-22b8ee570577.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Ice nucleation on microcline (001) in the absence of active sites","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9170796/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9170796/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Heterogeneous ice nucleation is at the heart of a wide range of technological and \r\nnatural fields ranging from cryopreservation\u003csup\u003e1\u003c/sup\u003e and the development of anti-icing \r\ncoatings\u003csup\u003e2–4\u003c/sup\u003e to the glaciation of clouds\u003csup\u003e5–11\u003c/sup\u003e. The latter process has a profound impact \r\non Earth’s climate as it changes major physical properties, such as the albedo and \r\nprecipitation efficiency\u003csup\u003e6,7\u003c/sup\u003e. Of the many different ice-nucleating mineral particles, dust \r\nfrom feldspar mineral microcline stands out as being particularly active\u003csup\u003e11–17\u003c/sup\u003e. However, \r\nwhy microcline outperforms other particles remains a puzzle. Here, we use \r\nnanoscale imaging to show that the (001) surface of microcline is able to induce ice \r\nnucleation in the absence of active sites. In contrast, for the closely related feldspar \r\nsanidine, ice nucleation is dominant at step edges as expected. Atomistic simulations \r\nsuggest that the ice nucleation is induced by a lattice match between the higher\r\nindex (10.4) plane of hexagonal ice and microcline. Our findings provide a \r\nnanoscopic explanation for microcline’s exceptional ice nucleation ability and \r\ndemonstrate the importance of taking higher-index surfaces into account. We expect \r\nthat the latter insight will enhance our understanding of nucleation processes in \r\nnature and our ability to create materials with outstanding ice nucleating abilities.","manuscriptTitle":"Ice nucleation on microcline (001) in the absence of active sites","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-04-08 06:02:53","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9170796/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-communications","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"NCOMMS","sideBox":"Learn more about [Nature Communications](http://www.nature.com/ncomms/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://mts-ncomms.nature.com/","title":"Nature Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature Communications","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"750c67ee-b8b4-41c3-9798-b1e2576d0a24","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 8th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":65486998,"name":"Physical sciences/Physics/Condensed-matter physics/Surfaces, interfaces and thin films"},{"id":65486999,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Climate sciences/Atmospheric science/Atmospheric chemistry"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-08T06:02:53+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-04-08 06:02:53","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9170796","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9170796","identity":"rs-9170796","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}