Surface Tension Drives the Orientation of Crystals at the Air-Water Interface

The fabrication of oriented crystalline thin films is essential for a range of applications ranging from semiconductors to optical components, sensors, and catalysis. Here we show by depositing micrometric crystal particles on a liquid interface from an aerosol phase that the surface tension of the liquid alone can drive the crystallographic orientation of initially randomly oriented particles. The X-ray diffraction patterns of the particles at the interface are identical to those of a monocrystalline sample cleaved along the {104} (CaCO3) or {111} (CaF2) face. We show how this orientation effect can be used to produce thin coatings of oriented crystals on a solid substrate. These results also have important implications for our understanding of heterogeneous crystal growth beneath amphiphile monolayers and for 2D self-assembly processes at the air-liquid interface.