Communication

Nucleation: What Happens at the Initial Stage?†

  1. Tian Hui Zhang Dr.2,
  2. Xiang Yang Liu Prof.1

Article first published online: 8 JAN 2009

DOI: 10.1002/anie.200804743

Issue

Angewandte Chemie International Edition

Angewandte Chemie International Edition

Volume 48, Issue 7, pages 1308–1312, February 2, 2009

Additional Information

How to Cite

Zhang, T. and Liu, X. (2009), Nucleation: What Happens at the Initial Stage?. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 48: 1308–1312. doi: 10.1002/anie.200804743

Author Information

  1. 1

    MIT-Singapore Alliance, Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, 2 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117542 (Singapore), Fax: (+65) 6777-6126

  2. 2

    Van't Hoff Laboratory for Physical and Colloid Chemistry, Debye Institute, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht (The Netherlands)

  1. †

    This research is supported by ARF Project R-144-000-148-112. We are much indebted to Dr. C. Strom for her valuable suggestions and critical reading of the manuscript.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 28 JAN 2009
  2. Article first published online: 8 JAN 2009
  3. Manuscript Received: 28 SEP 2008

Funded by

  • ARF. Grant Number: R-144-000-148-112

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Keywords:

  • colloids;
  • crystal engineering;
  • crystal growth;
  • nucleation

Abstract

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Crystallizing growth: The initial structure of crystal nuclei is supersaturation-dependent. At low degrees of supersaturation, liquid-like nuclei are formed initially, which undergo a continuous structure transition from liquid-like to crystal-like as the size N increases. This gradual structure evolution substantially lowers the nucleation barrier ΔG* and facilitates the nucleation relative to the formation of crystal-like clusters from the beginning.

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