Effect of Droplet Size on the First Order Ziff-Gulari-Barshad (ZGB) Phase Transition

Abstract

We introduce a new method to analyze the coexistence region of the constant rate ensemble ZGB discontinuous transition. The method clearly delineates the spinodal and coexistence points in the constant rate ZGB model. Increase in system size reduces the gap between the spinodal and coexistence points. Next we quantify the effect of metastability by introducing a droplet/nucleus of CO occupied sites in the initial system. In systems with initial nucleus of increasing size the distance between the spinodal and the coexistence point decreases, until for a large enough droplet spanning the initial system, the spinodal and the coexistence points become indistinguishable. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.