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Updated: Apr 10, 2026

Optimization of Crystal Growth for Neutron Macromolecular Crystallography
Published on: March 13, 2021
Crystallization Kinetics of Concurrent Liquid-Metastable and Metastable-Stable Transitions, and Ostwald's Step Rule
Hongwei Zhou1,2, Yanming Qin1,2,3, Shenghua Xu1,2
1†Key Laboratory of Microgravity, Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Experimental measurements of colloidal crystallization in a wide range of volume fractions of charged particles were performed to investigate the liquid-metastable-stable transition process. To fit the obtained experimental data, we developed a theoretical model to formulate the kinetics of the concurrent liquid-metastable and metastable-stable transitions. This model is well-supported by our observations. We found that when the ratio of the metastable-stable transition rate to the liquid-metastable rate is very large, the metastable state can become undetectable, although it still exists, offering a possible explanation for very few exceptions to Ostwald's step rule.
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