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Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Growing Protein Crystals with Distinct Dimensions Using Automated Crystallization Coupled with In Situ Dynamic Light Scattering
Published on: August 14, 2018
Colloidal hard-sphere crystallization kinetics in microgravity and normal gravity
Abstract:
The hard-sphere disorder-order transition serves as the paradigm for crystallization. We used time-resolved Bragg light scattering from the close-packed planes to measure the kinetics of nucleation and growth of colloidal hard-sphere crystals. The effects of gravity are revealed by comparison of the experiments in microgravity and normal gravity. Crystallites grow faster and larger in microgravity, and the coarsening between crystallites is suppressed by gravity. The face-centered-cubic structure was strongly indicated as being the stable structure for hard-sphere crystals. For a sample with a volume fraction of 0.552, the classic nucleation and growth picture is followed.
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