Amorphous precursors of crystallization during spinodal decomposition

Defect formation and coarsening in hexagonal 2D curved crystals

In this work we study the processes of defect formation and coarsening of two-dimensional (2D) curved crystal structures. These processes are found to strongly deviate from their counterparts in flat systems. In curved backgrounds the process of defect formation is deeply affected by the curvature, and at the onset of a phase transition the early density of defects becomes highly inhomogeneous. We observe that even a single growing crystal can produce varying densities of defects depending on its initial position and local orientation with regard to the substrate. This process is completely different from flat space, where grain boundaries are formed due to the impingement of different propagating crystals. Quenching the liquid into the crystal phase leads to the formation of a curved polycrystalline structure, characterized by complex arrays of defects. During annealing, mechanisms of geodesic curvature-driven grain boundary motion and defect annihilation lead to increasing crystalline order. Linear arrays of defects diffuse to regions of high curvature, where they are absorbed by disclinations. At the early stage of coarsening the density of dislocations is insensitive to the geometry while the population of isolated disclinations is deeply affected by curvature. The regions with high curvature act as traps for the diffusion of different structures of defects, including disclinations and domain walls.

Crystal templating through liquid–liquid phase separation

Fluff-like crystal growth of water in 1,2-dichloroethylene.

Crystallization kinetics of colloidal model suspensions: recent achievements and new perspectives

Colloidal model systems allow studying crystallization kinetics under fairly ideal conditions, with rather well-characterized pair interactions and minimized external influences. In complementary approaches experiment, analytic theory and simulation have been employed to study colloidal solidification in great detail. These studies were based on advanced optical methods, careful system characterization and sophisticated numerical methods. Over the last decade, both the effects of the type, strength and range of the pair-interaction between the colloidal particles and those of the colloid-specific polydispersity have been addressed in a quantitative way. Key parameters of crystallization have been derived and compared to those of metal systems. These systematic investigations significantly contributed to an enhanced understanding of the crystallization processes in general. Further, new fundamental questions have arisen and (partially) been solved over the last decade: including, for example, a two-step nucleation mechanism in homogeneous nucleation, choice of the crystallization pathway, or the subtle interplay of boundary conditions in heterogeneous nucleation. On the other hand, via the application of both gradients and external fields the competition between different nucleation and growth modes can be controlled and the resulting microstructure be influenced. The present review attempts to cover the interesting developments that have occurred since the turn of the millennium and to identify important novel trends, with particular focus on experimental aspects.

Crystallization dynamics on curved surfaces

We study the evolution from a liquid to a crystal phase in two-dimensional curved space. At early times, while crystal seeds grow preferentially in regions of low curvature, the lattice frustration produced in regions with high curvature is rapidly relaxed through isolated defects. Further relaxation involves a mechanism of crystal growth and defect annihilation where regions with high curvature act as sinks for the diffusion of domain walls. The pinning of grain boundaries at regions of low curvature leads to the formation of a metastable structure of defects, characterized by asymptotically slow dynamics of ordering and activation energies dictated by the largest curvatures of the system. These glassylike ordering dynamics may completely inhibit the appearance of the ground-state structures.