A First Real-time Glimpse Into the Growth Habits Of Crystal Nanoparticles
Various materials are composed of crystals. Salt, sugar, snowflakes, and gemstones are some examples of substances that contain crystals, which are characterized by their well-organized, layered structures. Despite the prevalence of crystals in the natural world, much is still unknown about the processes that lead to their formation.
Recent advancement in microscopy has helped shed light on this enigma. Northwestern University scientists have been able to observe the real-time formation of crystals by using advanced microscopy techniques. Through this process, they witnessed the mesmerizing self-assembly of nanoparticles into solid materials.
The researchers devoted significant effort to fine-tuning the process, to ensure that the electron beam would not harm the particles during observation. In their recent study, the researchers utilized nanoparticles of various shapes, such as cubes, spheres, and indented cubes, in order to investigate how particle shape influences behavior.
The researchers found that the nanoparticles exhibit motion within the solution, ultimately forming crystals with diverse shapes, including polyhedral morphologies. Crystalline materials are constructed from building blocks, such as atoms, molecules, or ions, that exhibit a high degree of order and form evenly-spaced lattices. These lattices are then stacked on top of each other, resulting in the formation of a three-dimensional solid material.
The process of crystal
The process of crystal formation involves particles falling downward, moving along steps, and sliding before ultimately locking into place to create the characteristic stacked layers of a crystal. During the experiments, the researchers observed the particles colliding and adhering to each other to form layers.
To build the crystalline structure layer-by-layer, the particles first formed a horizontal layer and then stacked on top of one another vertically. Occasionally, after adhering to each other, the particles separated briefly before falling onto a layer beneath them.
Through their observation of nanoparticles, the scientists were able to examine particles that are larger than atoms but smaller than colloids, thus spanning the entire range of length scales. This has allowed them to fill in a gap in our understanding of particle behavior at this intermediate length scale.
The findings of this research have practical implications and can aid in the development of new materials, including thin films used in electronics such as flexible electronics, light-emitting diodes, transistors, and solar cells. The use of liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy (TEM) enabled the researchers to achieve this progress. The research, titled “Unravelling crystal growth of nanoparticles,” has been published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
Read The Original Article: Digital Journal.
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