Binary nucleation kinetics. I. Self‐consistent size distribution

Using the principle of detailed balance, we derive a new self‐consistency requirement, termed the kinetic product rule, relating the evaporation coefficients and equilibrium cluster distribution for a binary system. We use this result to demonstrate and resolve an inconsistency for an idealized Kelvin model of nucleation in a simple binary mixture. We next examine several common forms for the equilibrium distribution of binary clusters based on the capillarity approximation and ideal vapor behavior. We point out fundamental deficiencies for each expression. We also show that each distribution yields evaporation coefficients that formally satisfy the new kinetic product rule but are physically unsatisfactory because they depend on the monomer vapor concentrations. We then propose a new form of the binary distribution function that is free of the deficiencies of the previous functions except for its reliance on the capillarity approximation. This new self‐consistent classical (SCC) size distribution for bin...