Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Crystal nucleation

In a tight corner

Nature Materials volume 10, pages 809–810 (2011)Cite this article

Subjects

Surfaces are known to act as catalysts for the nucleation of crystals. Using polymer films patterned with nanopores, it is now shown that the shape of the pores can control the kinetics of surface-induced crystal nucleation.

The nucleation of a crystal in solution starts with a microscopic fluctuation, which usually occurs at an interface — for instance that at the container's wall or between the solution and a solid impurity. Because of the small size of a crystal nucleus growing at a surface, most of the molecules in the nucleus are positioned at an interface, either that between the surface and the crystal, or the crystal–liquid interface that develops as the nucleus grows. Hence, as it is favourable that these interfaces are lattice planes, appreciating the role of the angle at which the surface–crystal and crystal–liquid interfaces meet — within a surface pore, for instance — is crucial to understanding the initial stage of surface-induced crystal formation. However, studying the effect of pore shape in experiments has been a challenge. Writing in Nature Materials1, Diao et al. report that nanopores in polymer films can promote the nucleation of aspirin crystals, but only if the pores have sides that meet at the correct angle. Their findings represent a significant advance in the ability to rationally engineer surfaces to control crystal nucleation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Crystallization of aspirin induced by porous surfaces1.
Figure 2: Nucleation of crystals (red) in porous surfaces (pores, white; surface, grey).

References

  1. Diao, Y., Harada, T., Myerson, A. S., Hatton, T. A. & Trout, B. L. Nature Mater. 10, 867–871 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Mitchell, C. A., Yu, L. & Ward, M. D. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 123, 10830 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Page, A. J. & Sear, R. P. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 17550 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Asanithi, P. et al. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 1, 1203 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Diao, Y. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 133, 3756 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Sear, R. P. J. Phys. Condens. Matter 19, 033101 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Gurganus, C., Kostinski, A. B. & Shaw, R. A. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2, 1449 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Richard Sear is in the Department of Physics, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK,

    Richard P. Sear

Authors
  1. Richard P. Sear
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Richard P. Sear.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sear, R. In a tight corner. Nature Mater 10, 809–810 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3157

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3157

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing