Crystallization by particle attachment is a colloidal assembly process
Crystallization by particle attachment is a colloidal assembly process
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DOI：
10.1038/s41563-019-0511-4
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发表时间：
2020-04-01
期刊：
影响因子：
41.2
通讯作者：
Sommerdijk, Nico A. J. M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Mirabello, Giulia;Ianiro, Alessandro;Sommerdijk, Nico A. J. M.
磁铁矿晶体从初级粒子成核的动力学和热力学可以用胶体组装理论来描述，从而可以预测晶体的尺寸。长期以来，人们一直认为晶体的成核是通过离子、原子或分子的随机缔合形成临界核而发生的，临界核随后会生长成晶体（1）。仅在过去的十年中，人们才逐渐认识到结晶也可以通过组装不同类型的结构单元（2，3）来进行，包括无定形前体（4）、初级颗粒（5）、成核前物质（6，7）、致密液滴（8，9）或纳米晶体（10）。然而，控制这些替代途径的力量仍然知之甚少。在这里，我们调查的磁铁矿（Fe3O4）的结晶，通过初级粒子的形成和聚集，并表明，热力学和动力学的过程中可以描述的胶体组装。该模型允许预测在给定的初始Fe浓度下的平均晶体尺寸，从而为设计具有预定尺寸和性质的晶体开辟了道路。
The kinetics and thermodynamics of the nucleation of magnetite crystals from primary particles are shown to be described by colloidal assembly theory, allowing for predictions of crystal sizes to be made.The nucleation of crystals has long been thought to occur through the stochastic association of ions, atoms or molecules to form critical nuclei, which will later grow out to crystals(1). Only in the past decade has the awareness grown that crystallization can also proceed through the assembly of different types of building blocks(2,3), including amorphous precursors(4), primary particles(5), prenucleation species(6,7), dense liquid droplets(8,9) or nanocrystals(10). However, the forces that control these alternative pathways are still poorly understood. Here, we investigate the crystallization of magnetite (Fe3O4) through the formation and aggregation of primary particles and show that both the thermodynamics and the kinetics of the process can be described in terms of colloidal assembly. This model allows predicting the average crystal size at a given initial Fe concentration, thereby opening the way to the design of crystals with predefined sizes and properties.