Abstract
ABOVE a characteristic temperature, the free energy required to form a step on the surface of a growing crystal may fall to zero; the surface then undergoes a transition from smooth (faceted) to irregular (rough) growth. Here we describe studies of the growth of n-C21H44crystals from n-hexane solutions close to the roughening transition. Beginning with equilibrium crystal growth at a temperature slightly above the roughening transition, we introduce progressively greater supersaturations by lowering the temperature. Observations of the growth morphology reveal a transition from rough to smooth growth, followed at greater supersaturations by a transition back to rough growth. To our knowledge, such a sequence of rough–smooth–rough crystal growth has not been reported before. Our measurements of the step free energy of the {110} faces indicate that it vanishes discontinuously at the equilibrium roughening transition temperature, in contrast to the continuous (critical) behaviour predicted by theoretical models1–11
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Liu, XY., Bennema, P. & van der Eerden, J. Rough–flat–rough transition of crystal surfaces. Nature 356, 778–780 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/356778a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/356778a0
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