Control of Crystal Size and Morphology of Calcium Carbonate Crystal Polymorphism

Calcium carbonate, the main component of lime, has been widely used in industry due to its stability and economy. Calcium carbonate has three types of crystalline polymorphism, calcite, aragonite and vaterite, each with different properties. Therefore, the control of crystal polymorphism is required for industrial applications. In addition, the control of crystal size and shape is similarly required for different applications. In this study, the effect of SrCO3 on the size control of fine aragonite-type calcium carbonate crystals by uniform urea precipitation and the effect of SrCO3 addition was investigated by adding solid strontium carbonate and dissolved strontium carbonate. The addition of solid strontium carbonate affected the crystal polymorphism and size of the calcium carbonate produced, depending on the properties of the solid particles and the amount of SrCO3 added. Experiments on the addition of dissolved SrCO3 showed that the supersaturation formation rate could be controlled to control the crystal polymorphism.

SYNTHESIS AND PHASE BEHAVIOUR OF CHIRAL COMBINED MAIN/SIDE CHAIN LIQUID CRYSTALLINE COPOLYMERS

The synthesis and phase behaviour of chiral combined main/side chain liquid crystallinecopolymers containing pendant group constituted by chiral side group and trans-azobenzenemoiety with nitro end group are described. The formation of liquid crystalline polymorphism ofcopolymers is influenced by various contents of achiral side group.

Influence of Teflon Substrate on Crystallization and Enzymatic Degradation of Polymorphic Poly(butylene adipate)

Oriented and non-oriented Teflon films, which were found to have the same crystalline structure, but different surface morphologies, were used to sandwich poly（butylene adipate） （PBA） films during isothermal crystallization. It was found that both the Teflon surface structure and the PBA polymorphic structure are the determining factors to induce epitaxial crystallization. The oriented Teflon film was able to induce epitaxial crystallization of PBA α crystal, while the non-oriented Teflon did not induce any epitaxial crystallization of PBA. Epitaxial crystallization did not occurred for PBA β crystals between neither the oriented nor the non-oriented Teflon films. The enzymatic degradation rate of PBA films was not determined by the epitaxial crystallization, in fact it was still dependent on the polymorphic crystal structure of PBA. The morphological changes of PBA films after enzymatic degradation confirmed again that the epitaxial crystallization only occurred for the PBA film with α crystal structure which was produced by being sandwiched between oriented Teflon films, and it happened only on the surface of PBA films.

Tuning crystal polymorphs of a π-extended tetrathiafulvalene-based cruciform molecule towards high-performance organic field-effect transistors

It is a common phenomenon for organic semi- conductors to crystallize in two or more polymorphs, leading to various molecular packings and different charge transport properties. Therefore, it is a crucial issue of tuning molec- ular crystal polymorphs （i.e., adjusting the same molecule with different packing arrangements in solid state） towards efficient charge transport and high performance devices. Here, the choice of solvent had a marked effect on con- trolling the growth of a-phase ribbon and β-phase platelet during crystallization for an indenofluorene （IF） π-extended tetrathiafulvalene （TTF）-based cruciform molecule, named as IF-TTF. The charge carrier mobility of the a-phase IF-TTF crystals was more than one order of magnitude higher than that of β-phase crystals, suggesting the importance of reasonably tuning molecular packing in solid state for the improvement of charge transport in organic semiconductors.

The formation of titania polymorphs under hydrothermal condition

The formation process of crystal polymorphs of titania under hydrothermal condition is studied.According to the experimental results and theoretic analysis,the formation process of crystal polymorphs can be described as a unit process.It includes the formation of growth units,the formation of nuclei through the polymerization of growth unit,and the growth of crystallites.The influence of the environmental phase and growth conditions on the formation of polymorphs is reflected in the changes of the structures of growth units.For example,when changing the pH of the reaction medium,the structure of growth unit with the highest stable energy in the hydrothermal system changes.Then different titania polymorphs can be prepared.The absorption,movement,crystallization or desorption of the growth unit are related to crystalline structure.On the other hand,the formation of crystal inner defects is related to the disturbance of the crystallizing process.

Insights from polymer crystallization： Chirality, recognition and competition

Crystallization of flexible polymer chains reveals distinct characters compared to small molecules, which provides a platform to study molecular self-assembly and morphogenesis. In this review, some examples, e.g., twisting chirality of polymer lamellar crystals, recognition of different chain units and competitive nucleation of different polymorphs and different lamellar thicknesses are briefly discussed. It is shown that the polymer crystallization process far from equilibrium is in practically minimization of the system free energy in local space and finite time, leading to formation of twisted crystals, metastable polymorphism and lamellar crystals with finite thickness. Though each molecule is blind to others, the peculiar ordered configurations with stronger long-range interactions are chosen from the enormous random trials. At the end, we list some remaining questions and outlook the perspectives.

Tailoring crystal polymorphs of organic semiconductors towards high-performance field-effect transistors

As a quite ubiquitous phenomenon,crystal polymorph is one of the key issues in the field of organic semiconductors.This review gives a brief summary to the advances on polymorph control of thin film and single crystal of representative organic semiconductors towards high-performance field-effect transistors.Particularly,the relationship between crystal polymporh and charge transport behaviour has been discussed to shed light on the rational preparation of outstanding organic semiconducting materials with desired crystal polymorph.