In Situ Imaging of Silicalite-1 Surface Growth Reveals the Mechanism of Crystallization

Abstract

Crystal Growth Two main routes for the growth of crystalline species are either via molecule-by-molecule attachment to existing nuclei or via the addition of preformed metastable precursors, but do these mechanisms need to be mutually exclusive? Lupulescu and Rimer (p. 729 ; see the Perspective by Dandekar and Doherty ) developed an in situ atomic force microscopy (AFM) technique to study the crystallization of materials under extreme conditions of temperature (25° to 300°C) and alkalinity (up to a pH of 13). The growth of the zeolite silicalite-1 involved both the attachment of metastable precursors and of individual molecules.