In Situ Kinetic Observations on Crystal Nucleation and Growth

Abstract

Nucleation and growth are critical steps in crystallization, which plays an important role in determining crystal structure, size, morphology, and purity. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms of nucleation and growth is crucial to realize the controllable fabrication of crystalline products with desired and reproducible properties. Based on classical models, the initial crystal nucleus is formed by the spontaneous aggregation of ions, atoms, or molecules, and crystal growth is dependent on the monomer’s diffusion and the surface reaction. Recently, numerous in situ investigations on crystallization dynamics have uncovered the existence of nonclassical mechanisms. This review provides a summary and highlights the in situ studies of crystal nucleation and growth, with a particular emphasis on the state-of-the-art research progress since the year 2016, and includes technological advances, atomic-scale observations, substrate- and temperature-dependent nucleation and growth, and the progress achieved in the various materials: metals, alloys, metallic compounds, colloids, and proteins. Finally, the forthcoming opportunities and challenges in this fascinating field are discussed.

Rb2CdSi4S10: novel [Si4S10] T2-supertetrahedra-contained infrared nonlinear optical material with large band gap

“…NLO material, as a core device of the all-solid-state laser, plays a critical role in developing new light sources using frequency conversion technology. [1][2][3][4] With sustained effort, significant progress has been achieved in ultraviolet-visible-near infrared (UV-Vis-NIR) regions, and a great number of oxide-based NLO crystal materials with outstanding optical properties, [5][6][7] such as b-BaB 2 O 4 (b-BBO), [8][9][10] LiB 3 O 5 (LBO), 11 CsLiB 6 O 10 (CLBO), 12 KBe 2 BO 3 F 2 (KBBF), 13,14 KH 2 PO 4 (KDP), 15 KTiOPO 4 (KTP), [16][17][18] and so on, have been developed successfully in recent years. [19][20][21] The development of NLO materials is limited in mid-and far-IR regions, and only a few chalcopyrite-like IR-NLO materials, such as AGS, AgGaSe 2 (AGse) and ZnGeP 2 (ZGP) with large SHG effects and wide IR transparent regions, [22][23][24][25] are commercially available.…”

Heteroepitaxy Growth and Characterization of High-Quality AlN Films for Far-Ultraviolet Photodetection

“…High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) can be used to study the microstructure of the heterojunction interface [ 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]. Figure 2 a shows cross-sectional HRTEM images of the sample recorded at the adjacent AlN/GaN interface.…”

Design rules for obtaining narrow luminescence from semiconductors made in solution

“…145,146 A very recent review demonstrates the application of these models to the formation of metals and silicates. 147 Despite a relatively long history of study in this area, polydispersity is typically optimized empirically rather than based on knowledge of the mechanism. Improved understanding of the connection between polydispersity and the formation mechanism could eventually lead to rational methods to narrow the polydispersity and even narrower PL linewidths.…”