Ultrasound-Assisted Intensified Nucleation of Probucol: From Perspective of Metastable Zone Width

A system with an ultrawide metastable zone (MSZW) is a macroscopic manifestation of difficulty in nucleation control. For such systems, ultrasound has been proven to be a powerful tool for shortening the MSZW. However, so far, quantitatively describing metastable behaviors with ultrasound remains a challenge. In this work, the MSZW of probucol was measured in 1-propanol and 1-butanol without ultrasound. Meanwhile, ethanol, 1-propanol, and 1-butanol were selected to measure MSZW under different ultrasonic times. We found that MSZW is considerably shortened in ultrasonic circumstances and can be up to 95% shorter than that without ultrasound. Importantly, we create a new MSZW model and discover that the relationship between ΔTmax/(T0·T1) and ln [R/(T0·T1)] shows a perfect linear relationship. It is discovered that the fundamental problem of how ultrasonic time affects MSZW may be attributed to the link between solid–liquid interfacial tension and driving force, and this model is completely proven in other reported data.