Pathway of orientational symmetry breaking in crystallization of short n-alkane droplets: A molecular dynamics study

We carry out molecular dynamics simulations by using an all-atom model to study the nucleation and crystallization of n-alkane droplets under three-dimensional and quasi-two-dimensional conditions. We focus on the development of orientational order of chains from a random state to a neatly ordered one. Two new methods, the map of symmetry breaking and the information entropy of chain orientations, are introduced to characterize the emerge and remelting phenomena of a primary nucleus at the early stage of crystallization. Stepwise nucleation, as well as the surface induced nucleation, of large droplets is observed. We elucidate the kinetic process of the formation of a primary nucleus and the rearrangement of every single molecule involved in a primary nucleus. We found that density fluctuation and orientational preordering are coupled together and occur simultaneously in nucleation. Our results show the pathway of orientational symmetry breaking in the crystallization of n-alkane droplets that are heuristic for the deeper understanding of the crystallization in more complex molecules such as polymers.