0000000000465390
AUTHOR
Willem J. P. Van Enckevort
Observation of instability of faceted crystals in lipid monolayers
Abstract The morphological instabilities of two-dimensional hexagonal crystals in lipid monolayers are studied. Fluorescence microscopy indicates that beyond a critical size the faceted crystal develops into dendrites with unusual tip growth behavior, which is not consistent with the current theory of dendritic growth. The morphological transitions in relation to the driving force for two-dimensional crystal growth are also studied.
Illumination-related pattern formations in lipid monolayers
We report on the phenomenon that in the two phase coexistence region (LC-LE) of a lipid monolayer film the fractal-like solid domains may grow simply by continuous illumination of a fluorescence microscope. The mechanism of this 2D domain growth is discussed. This phenomenon gives insight into the two-dimensional ramified crystallization in monolayers.
On the Creeping of Saturated Salt Solutions
Creeping is a well-known but annoying phenomenon in the preparation of crystals from solution, where growing crystallites gradually extend up the walls of the growth vessel. In this process, solution is transported toward the tip of the creeping crystallites, where solvent evaporation takes place and solid material is deposited. In this study, the growth of crystal aggregates extending from evaporating droplets of saturated aqueous solutions of ionic salts, placed on different substrate materials, has been investigated using optical microscopy. It is shown that the rate determining step of the crystallization process is the evaporation of solution, following Fick’s laws. Fresh solution, nec…