CRYSTAL GROWTH. Crystallization by particle attachment in synthetic, biogenic, and geologic environments

James J De Yoreo; Pupa U P A Gilbert; Nico A J M Sommerdijk; R Lee Penn; Stephen Whitelam; Derk Joester; Hengzhong Zhang; Jeffrey D Rimer; Alexandra Navrotsky; Jillian F Banfield; Adam F Wallace; F Marc Michel; Fiona C Meldrum; Helmut Cölfen; Patricia M Dove

doi:10.1126/science.aaa6760

CRYSTAL GROWTH. Crystallization by particle attachment in synthetic, biogenic, and geologic environments

Science. 2015 Jul 31;349(6247):aaa6760. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa6760.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Physical Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
² Departments of Physics and Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA. Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
³ Laboratory of Materials and Interface Chemistry and Soft Matter CryoTEM Unit, Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, Netherlands. Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, Netherlands.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, 207 Pleasant Street, SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
⁵ The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
⁶ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
⁷ Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
⁸ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Houston, 4800 Calhoun Road, Houston, TX 77204, USA.
⁹ Peter A. Rock Thermochemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of California Davis, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Geological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA.
¹¹ Department of Geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
¹² School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, West Yorkshire, England.
¹³ Physical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Konstanz, D-78457 Constance, Germany.
¹⁴ Department of Geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. dove@vt.edu.

PMID: 26228157
DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa6760

Abstract

Field and laboratory observations show that crystals commonly form by the addition and attachment of particles that range from multi-ion complexes to fully formed nanoparticles. The particles involved in these nonclassical pathways to crystallization are diverse, in contrast to classical models that consider only the addition of monomeric chemical species. We review progress toward understanding crystal growth by particle-attachment processes and show that multiple pathways result from the interplay of free-energy landscapes and reaction dynamics. Much remains unknown about the fundamental aspects, particularly the relationships between solution structure, interfacial forces, and particle motion. Developing a predictive description that connects molecular details to ensemble behavior will require revisiting long-standing interpretations of crystal formation in synthetic systems, biominerals, and patterns of mineralization in natural environments.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Review