Modeling solute clustering in the diffusion layer around a growing crystal

Lie-Ding Shiau; Yung-Fang Lu

doi:10.1063/1.3080719

Modeling solute clustering in the diffusion layer around a growing crystal

J Chem Phys. 2009 Mar 7;130(9):094105. doi: 10.1063/1.3080719.

Authors

Lie-Ding Shiau¹, Yung-Fang Lu

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan 33302, Republic of China. shiau@mail.cgu.edu.tw

PMID: 19275394
DOI: 10.1063/1.3080719

Abstract

The mechanism of crystal growth from solution is often thought to consist of a mass transfer diffusion step followed by a surface reaction step. Solute molecules might form clusters in the diffusion step before incorporating into the crystal lattice. A model is proposed in this work to simulate the evolution of the cluster size distribution due to the simultaneous aggregation and breakage of solute molecules in the diffusion layer around a growing crystal in the stirred solution. The crystallization of KAl(SO(4))(2)12H(2)O from aqueous solution is studied to illustrate the effect of supersaturation and diffusion layer thickness on the number-average degree of clustering and the size distribution of solute clusters in the diffusion layer.