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- Title
Nucleation and growth of magnetite from solution.
- Authors
Baumgartner, Jens; Dey, Archan; Bomans, Paul H. H.; Le Coadou, Cécile; Fratzl, Peter; Sommerdijk, Nico A. J. M.; Faivre, Damien
- Abstract
The formation of crystalline materials from solution is usually described by the nucleation and growth theory, where atoms or molecules are assumed to assemble directly from solution. For numerous systems, the formation of the thermodynamically stable crystalline phase is additionally preceded by metastable intermediates . More complex pathways have recently been proposed, such as aggregational processes of nanoparticle precursors or pre-nucleation clusters, which seem to contradict the classical theory. Here we show by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy that the nucleation and growth of magnetite-a magnetic iron oxide with numerous bio- and nanotechnological applications-proceed through rapid agglomeration of nanometric primary particles and that in contrast to the nucleation of other minerals, no intermediate amorphous bulk precursor phase is involved. We also demonstrate that these observations can be described within the framework of classical nucleation theory.
- Subjects
NUCLEATION; MAGNETITE; IRON ores; OXIDE minerals; AGGLOMERATION (Materials)
- Publication
Nature Materials, 2013, Vol 12, Issue 4, p310
- ISSN
1476-1122
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/nmat3558