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Controlled Crystallization of Sodium Chloride Nanocrystals in Microdroplets Produced by Electrospray from an Ultra‐Dilute Solution
Author(s) -
Zheng Fuqin,
Wang Dong,
Fang Hairui,
Wang Haidong,
Wang Meng,
Huang Keke,
Chen Huanwen,
Feng Shouhua
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
european journal of inorganic chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.667
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1099-0682
pISSN - 1434-1948
DOI - 10.1002/ejic.201501453
Subject(s) - nucleation , crystallization , chemistry , evaporation , nanocrystal , crystal growth , chemical engineering , electrospray , micrometer , crystal (programming language) , dispersion (optics) , solvent , nanotechnology , ion , chemical physics , crystallography , materials science , organic chemistry , optics , physics , programming language , computer science , engineering , thermodynamics
Controlled crystallization is very important for crystal growth. The electrospray (ES) technique has attracted great interest thanks to its advantages of facile manipulation of micrometer droplets and the generation of fine and charged droplets with very narrow size dispersion. In this work, nanocrystals with cubic shapes with 32 nm edges were successfully grown from ultra‐dilute NaCl solution (1 µg mL –1 ) on a millisecond timescale by an ES technique. Dispersed and charged microdroplets were created by ES. In the process, an increase in ion strength and built‐in electric field in microdroplets promoted nucleation and growth. Moreover, solvent evaporation increased solute and charge concentration and decreased the size of the microdroplets, which had a further effect on nucleation and growth. The morphologies of crystals were the competitive results of ion strength and evaporation. Fortunately, these physicochemical properties can be controlled facilely by adjusting the ES parameters. This report suggests potential application of ES technology for controllable crystallization of pharmaceuticals, proteins, etc.