Research Data Leeds Repository

The effect of additives on the early stages of growth of calcite single crystals - dataset

Kim, Yi-Yeoun and Freeman, Colin L. and Gong, Xiuqing and Levenstein, Mark A. and Wang, Yunwei and Kulak, Alexander and Anduix‐Canto, Clara and Lee, Phillip A. and Li, Shunbo and Chen, Li and Christenson, Hugo K. and Meldrum, Fiona C. (2017) The effect of additives on the early stages of growth of calcite single crystals - dataset. University of Leeds. [Dataset] https://doi.org/10.5518/239

Dataset description

As crystallization processes are often rapid, it can be difficult to monitor the growth mechanisms. In this study, we made use of the fact that crystallization proceeds more slowly in small volumes than in bulk solution to investigate the effects of the soluble additives Mg2+ and poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS) on the early stages of growth of calcite crystals. Using a “Crystal Hotel” microfluidic device to provide well-defined, nanoliter volumes, we observed that calcite crystals form via an amorphous precursor phase. Surprisingly, the first calcite crystals formed are perfect rhombohedra, and the soluble additives have no influence on the morphology until the crystals reach sizes of 0.1–0.5 mm for Mg2+ and 1–2 mm for PSS. The crystals then continue to grow to develop morphologies characteristic of these additives. These results can be rationalized by considering additive binding to kink sites, which is consistent with crystal growth by a classical mechanism

Subjects:

F000 - Physical sciences > F100 - Chemistry

Divisions:

Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences > School of Chemistry
Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences > School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering > Institute of Microwaves and Photonics
Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences > School of Physics and Astronomy

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