Crystal Growth Control
An ongoing area of interest is the control of crystal growth through interactions with additive (or impurity) molecules. This is of relevance to situations ranging from industrial processes, to biomineralisation.
In an effort to improve our understanding of the additive – crystal surface interactions, we synthesise and study additives with systematically varied structures. These include simple structures such as the tripodal series shown here, through to calixarenes modified with amino acids.
The impact of additives has been studied for crystalline materials including calcium carbonate, barium sulfate, calcium oxalate, amongst others. Typically we study changes in morphology (SEM, TEM), surface structure (AFM), polymorph (XRD), and growth kinetics (in situ analyses).
Similar techniques are used for investigating the growth of nanoparticles, such as iron oxides. A significant program of work has been funded by Dairy Australia, for study of the crystallization of lactose. The growth rate of lactose is reduced by a range of impurities that occur naturally in milk processing, and we aim to reduce the impact of these components on lactose production.
