The role of seeds in heterogeneous nucleation, growth and ripening: A quantitative confocal microscopy and scattering study

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Stefan U. Egelhaaf (†); Professor Dr. Walter Richtering
• Subject Area: Materials Science
• Term: from 2007 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 51380867

We propose to quantitatively study the process of heterogeneous nucleation and growth of hard and soft spheres with and without charges, including binary systems. Heterogeneous nucleation will be induced by large hard and soft spheres. The effect of the size, i.e. curvature, of the seeds on nucleation and growth as well as on the properties of the formed crystals will be investigated quantitatively on a microscopic, individual particle level. Quantitative information on individual particles will be obtained by confocal microscopy. We will continue to study hard spheres and start to investigate the crystallization of uncharged and charged soft spheres, namely fluorescently-labelled microgel particles. During the last funding period, the synthesis of these particles was established and their properties, such as their relatively large size and uorescent dyes, were optimized for the planned crystallization studies.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1296: Heterogeneous Nucleation and Microstructure Formation: Steps towards a System- and Scale-bridging Understanding
• Participating Person: Dr. Thomas Eckert