Effect of charge on growth of droplets with ionic condensation nuclei

A growth kinetics model of droplets with ionic condensation nuclei based on the chemical potential and the kinetic equation of mass transfer is established. The model is simplified and the effect of charge on droplet growth is examined. The theoretical results show that the critical radius for droplet growth with an ionic condensation nucleus is less than that of those without an ionic nucleus. Furthermore, our results also indicate that if the initial droplet with an ionic nucleus has a radius shorter than the critical radius, the droplet will not vanish, but will reach a steady-state radius. As the ionic charge increases, the critical radius for droplet growth will decrease and the corresponding steady-state droplet radius will increase. In addition we show that once a critical charge is reached, all droplets will grow regardless of initial radius.