Articles | Volume 15, issue 18
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5367-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5367-2022
Research article
 | 
21 Sep 2022
Research article |  | 21 Sep 2022

The Microfluidic Ice Nuclei Counter Zürich (MINCZ): a platform for homogeneous and heterogeneous ice nucleation

Florin N. Isenrich, Nadia Shardt, Michael Rösch, Julia Nette, Stavros Stavrakis, Claudia Marcolli, Zamin A. Kanji, Andrew J. deMello, and Ulrike Lohmann

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Cited articles

Assegehegn, G., Brito-de la Fuente, E., Franco, J. M., and Gallegos, C.: The importance of understanding the freezing step and its impact on freeze-drying process performance, J. Pharm. Sci., 108, 1378–1395, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xphs.2018.11.039, 2019. 
Atig, D., Touil, A., Ildefonso, M., Marlin, L., Bouriat, P., and Broseta, D.: A droplet-based millifluidic method for studying ice and gas hydrate nucleation, Chem. Eng. Sci., 192, 1189–1197, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2018.08.003, 2018. 
Atkinson, J. D., Murray, B. J., Woodhouse, M. T., Whale, T. F., Baustian, K. J., Carslaw, K. S., Dobbie, S., O'Sullivan, D., and Malkin, T. L.: The importance of feldspar for ice nucleation by mineral dust in mixed-phase clouds, Nature, 498, 355–358, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12278, 2013. 
Brubaker, T., Polen, M., Cheng, P., Ekambaram, V., Somers, J., Anna, S. L., and Sullivan, R. C.: Development and characterization of a “store and create” microfluidic device to determine the heterogeneous freezing properties of ice nucleating particles, Aerosol Sci. Tech., 54, 79–93, https://doi.org/10.1080/02786826.2019.1679349, 2019. 
David, R. O., Cascajo-Castresana, M., Brennan, K. P., Rösch, M., Els, N., Werz, J., Weichlinger, V., Boynton, L. S., Bogler, S., Borduas-Dedekind, N., Marcolli, C., and Kanji, Z. A.: Development of the DRoplet Ice Nuclei Counter Zurich (DRINCZ): validation and application to field-collected snow samples, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 6865–6888, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6865-2019, 2019. 
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Short summary
Ice nucleation in the atmosphere influences cloud properties and lifetimes. Microfluidic instruments have recently been used to investigate ice nucleation, but these instruments are typically made out of a polymer that contributes to droplet instability over extended timescales and relatively high temperature uncertainty. To address these drawbacks, we develop and validate a new microfluidic instrument that uses fluoropolymer tubing to extend droplet stability and improve temperature accuracy.
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