The role of seeds in heterogeneous nucleation, growth and ripening: A quantitative confocal microscopy and scattering study

我们建议定量研究的过程中的异质成核和生长的硬和软球的电荷和不带电荷，包括二元系统。大的硬球和软球将诱导非均匀形核。将在微观的单个颗粒水平上定量研究晶种的尺寸（即曲率）对成核和生长以及对所形成的晶体的性质的影响。将通过共聚焦显微镜获得单个颗粒的定量信息。我们将继续研究硬球，并开始研究不带电和带电的软球，即荧光标记的微凝胶颗粒的结晶。在上一个供资期间，确定了这些颗粒的合成方法，并为计划的结晶研究优化了它们的特性，如相对较大的尺寸和鲜艳的染料。

We propose to quantitatively study the process of heterogeneous nucleation and growth of hard and soft spheres with and without charges, including binary systems. Heterogeneous nucleation will be induced by large hard and soft spheres. The effect of the size, i.e. curvature, of the seeds on nucleation and growth as well as on the properties of the formed crystals will be investigated quantitatively on a microscopic, individual particle level. Quantitative information on individual particles will be obtained by confocal microscopy. We will continue to study hard spheres and start to investigate the crystallization of uncharged and charged soft spheres, namely fluorescently-labelled microgel particles. During the last funding period, the synthesis of these particles was established and their properties, such as their relatively large size and uorescent dyes, were optimized for the planned crystallization studies.