Nature Communications
One of the central quantities in the context of crystal nucleation is the critical nucleus: a bunch of atoms/molecules/particles large just enough for the system to proceed to the growth of the newborn crystalline phase. However, we argue in this work that pre-critical nuclei can provide some unexpectedly important insight as well. And, in the process of figuring this out, we actually came up with a modification of classical nucleation theory (the tool of the trade when talking nucleation…) which is necessary when the crystalline polymorph nucleating heterogeneously differs from what you get from homogeneous nucleation…