Do you still remember the scene of salt crystals in the saline crystal in the high school chemistry experiments, or the scene of the rock sugar crystals growing in the sugar water?It turns out that the understanding of how the crystals form in these solutions may be wrong.A new theory "unveiled" the mysterious veil of the crystallization process, and indicates that the crystalline substance is the main component in the solution-it is the solvent, not the solution.This theory may have an impact on all aspects such as drug development to understanding climate change.
Professor of Chemical Professor of North Carolina State University, "Material" magazine, the author of the theory, James Martin at the theory of the theory,Said: "Crystals are everywhere-we use them from all fields from technology to medicine-but our actual understanding of the crystalline process has always been lacking."
"" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "People generally believe that dissolution and precipitation are essentially the opposite, but in fact, they are completely different processes, "Martin said."Take high school chemistry experiments that extract sediments from the solution as an example: When I dissolved salt (soluble) into water (solvents), water is dominated. It basically dissolves salt by tearing salt.If you want to grow salt crystals from the solution, the dominant phase must be turned into salt-at this time salt is the solvent, which is the phase of the crystal.The change point related to concentration and temperature can be used to illustrate the new theory called the theory of the transition zone.
This theory proves that the crystallization is divided into two steps: first formation of a predecessor -like growth intermediate.The intermediate can then organize a crystal structure.
"If you want to grow crystals from the solution, you must quickly separate the solvents and solvents," Martin said."The melt called here refers to the pure phase of the solvent before the formation of the crystal. The difference here is that my theory shows that by turning the solution to the conditions of the solvents, we can obtain better and faster crystal growth.In other words, the solvent that controls the growth rate of the crystal, not the impurities in it.It is found that it can accurately describe the speed and size of the crystal formation.The main problem of the description of crystals in the past is that the growth of the crystal believes that the growth of the crystal is spread through the independent soluble particles to the crystal interface in the growth, and then attached to the crystal interface.Instead, it is necessary to understand the combination of solvents to describe the growth of the crystal.
The importance of the new theory is that it focuses on understanding the combination of solvents to destroy solvents.By understanding the interaction of temperature and concentration, you can accurately predict the speed and size growing from the solution from the solution.
Thermodynamic phase diagram not only has important applications in crystal formation, but also has important applications in preventing crystal formation, such as preventing kidney stones from growing.
"Crystals are the foundation of technology-they are around us, affecting our daily life," Martin said."This theory provides researchers with simple tools to help them understand the" magic "of crystal growth and make better predictions. This is an example of how basic science lays the foundation for solving various practical problems."
Compile from/scientationdable
DOI: 10.1016/J.MATT.2024.08.011
