Abstract
Investigation of early stages of crystal growth revealed that crystal growth in some systems may not follow the classic route. In the early stages of inorganic crystal growth, precursor molecules and/or nanocrystallites may aggregate into large and disordered particles with the assistance of some polymers or biomolecules. Surface crystallization of these aggregates would then take place to form shells with high crystallinity and density, followed by an extension of the crystallization from surface to core. This so-called reversed crystal growth mechanism has been found in crystallization of several inorganic compounds including zeolites, perovskites, metals and metal oxides, and will be identified in more material systems. The establishment of this new crystal growth route gave us more freedom to control the morphology of crystals and to understand the formation mechanism of many natural minerals. This article gives a brief review of the recent research in this field by featuring some typical examples of the reversed crystal growth.
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GREER Heather F. received her B.Sc in Chemistry and Mathematics at the University of St Andrews in 2009. She is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of St Andrews under the supervision of Professor WuZong Zhou. Her current research interests are the early stage crystal growth and reversed crystal growth of various microporous and mesoporous materials.
YU FengJiao received a B.Sc degree from Fudan University in 2010. She is working as a Ph. D. student in Professor Wuzong Zhou’s group in University of St Andrews. Her research interest centers on growth mechanism and structure of nanomaterials.
ZHOU WuZong is a Professor of Chemistry at University of St Andrews. He obtained his B.Sc in chemistry in 1982 from Fudan University, Shanghai. He started his research in HRTEM characterisation of solids in 1984 in University of Cambridge under the supervision of Dr. David A. Jefferson and Professor Sir John M. Thomas, and received his Ph.D. in 1988. He then continued his research work in Cambridge, as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemistry, a Research Fellow in Queens’ College (1987–1990) and Assistant Director of Research (1993–1998). In 1999, he moved to St Andrews University to set up the Electron Microscopy Laboratory. His current research interests are the synthesis and characterisation of nanomaterials and porous materials, and the investigation of early stage crystal growth.
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Greer, H.F., Yu, F. & Zhou, W. Early stages of non-classic crystal growth. Sci. China Chem. 54, 1867–1876 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-011-4441-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-011-4441-5