Supercooling, ice nucleation and crystal growth: a systematic study in plant samples

This paper presents an innovative technological platform which is based on infrared video recording and is used for monitoring multiple ice nucleation events and their interactions, as they happen in 96 well microplates. Thousands of freezing curves were obtained during this study and the following freezing parameters were measured: cooling rate, nucleation point, freezing point, solidus point, degree of supercooling, duration of dendritic phase and duration of crystal growth. We demonstrate the use of this platform in the detection of ice nuclei in plant samples. Future applications of this platform may include breeding for frost tolerance, cryopreservation, frozen food technology and atmospheric sciences.