NEW STRATEGIES FOR CONTROLLING CRYSTALLIZATION

结晶是一种现象，触及每个人，他们生活的每一天。它是科学和技术领域的核心，包括制药，医疗保健，纳米材料和食品，以及风化和碳捕获等环境问题。只有对晶体成核和生长有了基本的了解，我们才有希望控制这些过程。事实上，由于分析技术的进步，我们最近对成核和生长的理解有了飞跃，这使得对控制结晶的纳米级过程的研究成为可能。我们正在通过开发策略来设计和生产具有定义的多晶型、取向、形态和尺寸的晶体来应对这一挑战。在过去的五年里，我们建立了专业知识和合作，使用同步加速器粉末XRD，高分辨率低温TEM，AFM，EXAFS和表面力仪器等技术研究结晶。例如，这使我们能够表明，蒸汽的结晶通常通过表面孔隙中的液体冷凝物进行，这对云中的冰形成和气候建模具有重要意义。我们对生物启发结晶特别感兴趣，其中生物矿物的非凡材料为环境条件下合成晶体的设计和形成提供了灵感。在这里，我们已经表明，与当前强调使用生物分子控制的理论相反，自然界使用物理限制作为控制结晶的主要途径。我们还利用生物启发的策略来生产“人造生物矿物”，其机械性能与生物矿物相当。该平台资助中的灵活资源将用于支持我们现有的研究组合，并探索新的想法和方法来理解和控制结晶。要实现这一宏伟目标，需要一项包括长期、高风险研究的战略。将特别强调使用的物理环境-限制和表面形貌-控制结晶。作为例子，我们将扩展现有的项目，以调查限制和表面化学的综合效应，并研究碳纳米管内的无定形矿物的结晶。我们将探索新的方向，包括蛋白质结晶的控制，以及研究液滴结晶的微流控装置，并期望根据研究结果建立新的研究项目。平台资助也将为PDRA和学生提供一个上级研究和培训环境。结晶是一个真正的跨学科的主题，我们小组的一个特殊优势是它能够同时从化学和物理的角度来看待这个问题。因此，这笔赠款将特别有价值，为利兹物理和化学学院提供一个有凝聚力的框架，以帮助我们的研究人员作为一个综合团队共同努力。由赠款供资的工作人员将被分配到项目，而不是个别调查员，从而加强平台支助的战略性质。此外，我们将为我们的PDRA提供更高的职业稳定性和连续性，以及上级专业发展机会，以帮助他们申请有竞争力的讲师/奖学金或行业职位。提供“附加值”，平台赠款将用于启动/加强与英国国内外其他国际领先团体的合作，PDRA将从与其他实验室的研究交流中获得巨大收益。补助金的灵活性确保我们在关键领域（如微流体，AFM）保留了大量的研究人员，并且我们的大型研究小组由许多不同的赠款资助，仍然是集成的，响应和动态的。

Crystallization is a phenomenon which touches every person, each day of their lives. It lies at the heart of a vast range of fields in science and technology, including pharmaceuticals, healthcare, nanomaterials and foodstuffs, as well as environmental issues like weathering and carbon-capture. Only by building a fundamental understanding of crystal nucleation and growth can we hope to control these processes. Indeed, there has recently been a leap in our understanding of nucleation and growth thanks to advances in analytical techniques, which have enabled study of the nanoscale processes which govern crystallization.We are addressing this challenge by developing strategies to design and produce crystals with defined polymorph, orientation, morphology and size. Over the last five years we have built expertise and collaborations to study crystallization using techniques such as synchrotron powder XRD, high-resolution cryo-TEM, AFM, EXAFS and the surface force apparatus. This has enabled us to show, for example, that crystallization from vapour often proceeds via liquid condensates in surface pores, which has important implications for ice formation in clouds and climate modelling. We are especially interested in bio-inspired crystallization, where the remarkable materials that are biominerals provide inspiration for the design and formation of synthetic crystals under ambient conditions. Here, we have shown that in contrast to current theories which emphasise control using biomolecules, nature uses physical confinement as a major route to controlling crystallization. We have also used bio-inspired strategies to produce "artificial biominerals" that have mechanical properties equivalent to their biogenic counterparts.The flexible resources available within this Platform Grant will be used to underpin our existing research portfolio and to explore new ideas and approaches to understanding and controlling crystallization. Attainment of this ambitious goal requires a strategy which includes longer-term, higher-risk research. Particular emphasis will be placed on the use of the physical environment -confinement and surface topography - to control crystallization. As examples, we will extend existing projects to investigate the combined effects of confinement and surface chemistry, and to study the crystallization of amorphous minerals within carbon nanotubes. We will explore new directions including the control of protein crystallization, and microfluidic devices for the study of crystallization within droplets, with the expectation of building new research programmes based on the results.The Platform Grant will also provide a superior research and training environment for PDRAs and students. Crystallization is a truly interdisciplinary subject, and a particular strength of our group is its ability to take both chemical and physical perspectives on the subject. This grant will hence be particularly valuable in providing a cohesive framework across the Schools of Physics and Chemistry at Leeds to help our researchers to work together as an integrated team. Staff funded by the grant will be assigned to projects rather than individual investigators, thereby enhancing the strategic nature of the platform support. Furthermore, we will provide our PDRAs with enhanced career stability and continuity, and with superior professional development opportunities to help them to apply for competitive lectureships/fellowships or positions in industry. Providing "added value", the Platform grant will be used to initiate/ strengthen collaborations with other internationally leading groups both within and outside the UK, and the PDRAs will gain enormously from research exchanges with other labs. The flexibility of the grant ensures that we retain a critical mass of researchers in key areas (eg microfluidics, AFM) and that our large research group which is funded by many different grants remains integrated, responsive and dynamic.