Heterogeneous ice nucleation is a field of atmospheric chemistry that has been studied for nearly 100 years on a variety of different particles. However, it has not focused on extensively isolating and varying surface groups that can act as a model system to isolate a specific functional group present on the surface of many atmospheric molecules. This study explores the effects of surface groups on the ice nucleation activity of silver nanoparticles, gold nanoparticles, and ZSM-5 zeolites via immersion freezing. Silver and gold nanoparticles are synthesized with analogous functional groups and the zeolites have varying ratios of Si/Al on the surface. All three particles are tested to assess which features lead to higher ice nucleation activity. Alcohol groups on the surface of the nanoparticle were found to be the most active, and higher alumina content on the surface of the zeolites correlated to higher activity. A better understanding of ice nucleation can lead to a deeper understanding of cloud formation, and by extension, climate.
