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Discussion
Stephen Fletcher *
Department of Chemistry, Loughborough University, Ashby Road, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 TU, UK
Received 2 December 2001; accepted 24 May 2002
Abstract
Some time ago, Abyaneh and Fleischmann submitted several papers to this journal in which they modelled the heterogeneous
nucleation of crystals as a first order kinetic process. In an invited response, I argued that such an approach was seriously flawed,
because it ignored nucleation rate dispersion. More recently, instead of responding directly to this criticism, Abyaneh and
Fleischmann have challenged the validity of the Deutscher /Fletcher experiments that first established the physical reality of
nucleation rate dispersion. This note, therefore, serves two purposes. Firstly, it confirms the validity and high rigour of the original
Deutscher /Fletcher experiments. Secondly, it identifies the errors in the Abyaneh /Fleischmann papers. In conclusion, it is
emphasised that nucleation rate dispersion is real, universal, and must always be taken into account in experiments involving
heterogeneous nucleation. # 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Heterogeneous nucleation; Nucleation rate dispersion; Active sites; Current /time transients; Alamethicin
0022-0728/02/$ - see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 2 2 - 0 7 2 8 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 9 7 7 - 4
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121
122
References
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[2] A.J. Bard, L.R. Faulkner, Electrochemical Methods, Fundamentals and Applications, 2nd ed., Wiley, New York, 2001.
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[10] P. Bindra, M. Fleischmann, J.W. Oldfield, D. Singleton, Faraday
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