Abstract Nucleation and growth of crystals is a pervasive phenomenon in the synthesis of man-made materials, as well as mineral formation within geochemical and biological environments. Over the past two decades, numerous ex situ studies of crystallization have concluded that nucleation and growth pathways are more complex than envisioned within classical models. The recent development of in situ liquid phase TEM (LP-TEM) has led to new insights into such pathways by enabling direct, real-time observations of nucleation and growth events. Here we report results from LP-TEM studies of Au nanoparticle, CaCO 3 and iron oxide formation. We show how these in situ data can be used to obtain direct evidence for the mechanisms underlying crystallization, as well as dynamic information that provides constraints on important kinetic and thermodynamic parameters not available through ex situ methods.

中文翻译：

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成核和生长过程的原位液相 TEM 观察

摘要 晶体的成核和生长是人造材料合成以及地球化学和生物环境中矿物形成中普遍存在的现象。在过去的 20 年里，大量的非原位结晶研究得出的结论是，成核和生长途径比经典模型中预想的要复杂。原位液相 TEM (LP-TEM) 的最新发展通过实现对成核和生长事件的直接、实时观察，使人们对这种途径有了新的认识。在这里，我们报告了 Au 纳米颗粒、CaCO 3 和氧化铁形成的 LP-TEM 研究结果。我们展示了这些原位数据如何用于获得结晶机制的直接证据，