Cavitation in confinement: a classical nucleation theory approach

Cavitation indicates the formation of a vapor cavity within a metastable liquid. In ultrapure water this phenomenon happens in the bulk liquid phase at extreme negative pressures of the order of−120MPa. However, in practical situations, the cavitation pressure can be much closer to coexistence due to the presence of impurities which trigger heterogeneous nucleation. Classical nucleation theory is the most popular framework used to understand and analyze homogeneous cavitation; however, extending it to highly confined geometries is non-trivial. Here we developed a confined classical nucleation theory for cavitation within hydrophobic nanoporous materials – a case with important technological applications. We employ a nu- merical approach to find the most probable bubble configurations along the cavitation process. The limits of this approach are discussed by comparing the results with available molecular dynamics simulations.