Using Confinement and Surface Chemistry to Control Crystallisation

该项目将研究约束和表面形貌对晶体成核和生长的影响，最终目标是利用这些影响来控制结晶。在现实世界中，结晶通常发生在小体积而不是散装溶液中，因此可以对溶液的结晶产生重大影响，控制多晶形和取向，并在数量级上延缓结晶速率。同样，众所周知，表面的地形特征，如尖锐的裂纹，可以显著地促进成核。在这两种情况下，人们对这些影响的起源都知之甚少。本项目将调查这些过程。系统地研究约束对无机和有机晶体的影响，包括控制孔隙、玻璃和纳米管等环境。广泛的技术包括固态核磁共振，透射电子显微镜和x射线和电子断层扫描将被采用。再加上建模小组提供的见解，这项工作增强了对约束如何影响结晶的理解，这将最终使我们能够利用约束来控制结晶。该项目还将研究显示自然裂缝的基板上的结晶，这些地形特征似乎是有效的成核位点。观察天然底物，如长石和合成底物，包括氧化的PDMS，实验将确定诱导各种化合物成核所需的特征。

This project will investigate the effects of confinement and surface topography on crystal nucleation and growth with the goal of ultimately using these effects to control crystallisation. Crystallisation in the real world often occurs within small volumes rather than bulk solution, where thus can have significant effects on crystallisation from solution, controlling polymorph and orientation, and retarding crystallisation rates by orders of magnitude. Similarly, it is anecdotally well known that surface topographical features such as sharp cracks can significantly promote nucleation. In both cases, the origins of these effects are poorly understood. This project will investigate these processes. Systematic studies will be carried out on the effects of confinement on inorganic and organic crystals using environments including controlled pores glasses and nanotubes. A wide range of techniques including solid state NMR, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray and electron tomography will be employed. Coupled with the insight provided by the modelling groups, this work deliver an enhanced understanding of how confinement affects crystallisation, which will ultimately enable us to exploit confinement in order to control crystallisation. The project will also investigate crystallisation on substrates exhibiting natural cracks, where these topographical features appear to act as effective nucleation sites. Looking at natural substrates such as feldspars and synthetic substrates including oxidised PDMS, experiments will determine the features required to induce nucleation of a wide range of compounds.