Water condensation kinetics on a hydrophobic surface

Employing thermal desorption spectroscopy, we show that the effective probability of water condensation at low water vapor pressure on an octane film is much below unity at 100-120 K. This unusual finding is related to a small binding energy of H2O monomers on octane (approximately equal to 0.08 eV), requiring the formation of critical water clusters for condensation to occur. This results in strong temperature and impingement-rate dependencies of the water condensation rate and a nonlinear uptake as a function of dose time. All these features are rationalized quantitatively by a kinetic model of water condensation.