TY - JOUR
T1 - Unravelling crystal growth of nanoparticles
AU - Luo, Binbin
AU - Wang, Ziwei
AU - Curk, Tine
AU - Watson, Garrett
AU - Liu, Chang
AU - Kim, Ahyoung
AU - Ou, Zihao
AU - Luijten, Erik
AU - Chen, Qian
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank J. Kim for useful discussions. Z.W. gratefully acknowledges support from a Ryan Fellowship and the International Institute for Nanotechnology at Northwestern University. This material is based on work supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering, under award nos. DE-SC0020723 and DE-SC0020885. G.W. was supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under grant no. DGE-1842165 and T.C. by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme under Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship no. 845032.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2023/3/30
Y1 - 2023/3/30
N2 - Crystal growth from nanoscale constituents is a ubiquitous phenomenon in biology, geology and materials science. Numerous studies have focused on understanding the onset of nucleation and on producing high-quality crystals by empirically sampling constituents with different attributes and varying the growth conditions. However, the kinetics of post-nucleation growth processes, an important determinant of crystal morphology and properties, have remained underexplored due to experimental challenges associated with real-space imaging at the nanoscale. Here we report the imaging of the crystal growth of nanoparticles of different shapes using liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy, resolving both lateral and perpendicular growth of crystal layers by tracking individual nanoparticles. We observe that these nanoscale systems exhibit layer-by-layer growth, typical of atomic crystallization, as well as rough growth prevalent in colloidal systems. Surprisingly, the lateral and perpendicular growth modes can be independently controlled, resulting in two mixed crystallization modes that, until now, have received only scant attention. Combining analytical considerations with molecular dynamics and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, we develop a comprehensive framework for our observations, which are fundamentally determined by the size and shape of the building blocks. These insights unify the understanding of crystal growth across four orders of magnitude in particle size and suggest novel pathways to crystal engineering.
AB - Crystal growth from nanoscale constituents is a ubiquitous phenomenon in biology, geology and materials science. Numerous studies have focused on understanding the onset of nucleation and on producing high-quality crystals by empirically sampling constituents with different attributes and varying the growth conditions. However, the kinetics of post-nucleation growth processes, an important determinant of crystal morphology and properties, have remained underexplored due to experimental challenges associated with real-space imaging at the nanoscale. Here we report the imaging of the crystal growth of nanoparticles of different shapes using liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy, resolving both lateral and perpendicular growth of crystal layers by tracking individual nanoparticles. We observe that these nanoscale systems exhibit layer-by-layer growth, typical of atomic crystallization, as well as rough growth prevalent in colloidal systems. Surprisingly, the lateral and perpendicular growth modes can be independently controlled, resulting in two mixed crystallization modes that, until now, have received only scant attention. Combining analytical considerations with molecular dynamics and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, we develop a comprehensive framework for our observations, which are fundamentally determined by the size and shape of the building blocks. These insights unify the understanding of crystal growth across four orders of magnitude in particle size and suggest novel pathways to crystal engineering.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85151319069&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85151319069&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41565-023-01355-w
DO - 10.1038/s41565-023-01355-w
M3 - Article
C2 - 36997752
SN - 1748-3387
JO - Nature Nanotechnology
JF - Nature Nanotechnology
ER -