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Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Optimization of Crystal Growth for Neutron Macromolecular Crystallography
Published on: March 13, 2021
Two-dimensional crystal growth from undersaturated solutions
Anne E Murdaugh1, Mary Liddelow, Anneliese M Schmidt
1Department of Physics and Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA.
Abstract:
The solubility of a substance is commonly understood as the minimum concentration necessary for the condensation of a solid phase from solution. Here we report the nucleation and growth of ionic compounds from aqueous concentrations on the order of 0.1 times the solubility. The condensation is catalyzed by a foreign substrate, and the new phase grows as a crystalline monolayer. Undersaturated growth is observed only in cases where the dissolved compound is isomorphic with the substrate and the interaction strength between a dissolved-ion/substrate-ion pair exceeds that between the two dissolved ions. These results are consistent with a simple model in which favorable ion-surface interactions lead to ion enrichment and supersaturation in the two-dimensional interfacial zone.
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