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The document is a contents list for the journal CrystEngComm, which focuses on the design and understanding of solid-state and crystalline materials. It includes a range of papers on topics such as solid-state reactions, separation and crystallization of polymorphs, selective adsorption, and photoelectrochemical water oxidation. The journal is published by The Royal Society of Chemistry, a leading chemistry community that reinvests its profits back into the chemistry community. The document also mentions professional recognition and qualifications for scientists, as well as a correction to a previous article. [Extracted from the article]

We present the growth and characterization of sizable single crystals of the transition metal sulfide Ba2MnS3 by the floating-zone technique. Notably, to the best of our knowledge, this method marks the first instance of sulfide melt growth in an open atmosphere, prompting us to detail modifications to our halogen image furnace to eliminate oxygen from the growth atmosphere. This advance is expected to prove valuable for cultivating substantial crystals of other sulfide materials. We present a detailed study of Ba2MnS3. Through single crystal X-ray and neutron diffraction, we confirm Ba2MnS3 adopts the orthorhombic space group Pnma with unit cell parameters of a = 8.88960 (10) Å, b = 4.33630 (10) Å, c = 17.2210 (2) Å, and V = 663.835 (19) Å3 at 300 K. By means of magnetometry and specific heat capacity, we identify an antiferromagnetic ground state, with two transitions at 19.6 and 21.1 K. Finally, we elucidate the magnetic ground state through single crystal neutron diffraction, demonstrating the system is described by the magnetic propagation vector k = (0, 1/2, 0) and belongs to the Pb21/n magnetic space group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the growth and characterization of sizable single crystals of the transition metal sulfide Ba2MnS3 by the floating-zone technique. Notably, to the best of our knowledge, this method marks the first instance of sulfide melt growth in an open atmosphere, prompting us to detail modifications to our halogen image furnace to eliminate oxygen from the growth atmosphere. This advance is expected to prove valuable for cultivating substantial crystals of other sulfide materials. We present a detailed study of Ba2MnS3. Through single crystal X-ray and neutron diffraction, we confirm Ba2MnS3 adopts the orthorhombic space group Pnma with unit cell parameters of a = 8.88960 (10) Å, b = 4.33630 (10) Å, c = 17.2210 (2) Å, and V = 663.835 (19) Å3 at 300 K. By means of magnetometry and specific heat capacity, we identify an antiferromagnetic ground state, with two transitions at 19.6 and 21.1 K. Finally, we elucidate the magnetic ground state through single crystal neutron diffraction, demonstrating the system is described by the magnetic propagation vector k = (0, 1/2, 0) and belongs to the Pb21/n magnetic space group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An investigation of the crystal growth of metal organic framework MIL-68(In) under solvothermal conditions revealed a non-classical reversed crystal growth mechanism via a route of nanorods – orientated aggregation into polycrystalline microrods – surface recrystallisation into a hexagonal shell – extension of recrystallisation from the surface to the core of the microrods. Terephthalic acid molecules which are adsorbed onto the surface of nanorods are believed to strengthen the inter-particle interaction, leading to an early stage aggregation of the monocrystalline nanorods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Nano-Crystallization method has been extensively tested for the growth of single crystals of cationic coordination compounds, which are soluble in water. All three studied, diverse metal complexes could be crystallized with the help of pipetting robots commonly used for the crystallization of proteins and the anion small molecule screen. It was furthermore possible to obtain for each positively charged complex several structures with different anions. In one case, together with literature data, a total of six salts with different anions could be assembled, which allowed an investigation of the influence of the counterions on the inter-cation metal-to-metal distance. The Nano-Crystallization method can be recommended for the single crystal growth of cationic coordination complexes, which are stable in water and have an aqueous solubility of at least 2 mM. This is the first publication dedicated solely to the single crystal growth of coordination complexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three crystalline complexes containing fluorine anion water clusters, [Cd(Im)6][F·H2O]2 (1), [Ni(Im)6][F2·(H2O)5] (2) and [Co(Im)6][F·NO3·(H2O)4] (3), were reported. The interesting fluorine anion water clusters are described in this paper. Single X-ray analysis shows that fluoride ions in the water clusters have different coordination environments, four-coordinated in a tetrahedral geometry for (1), five-coordinated in a trigonal bipyramidal geometry for (2), and three-coordinated in a planar trigonal geometry for (3). F−(H2O)n is assembled by strong H-bonding interactions [OH…F = 2.576(1)–2.813(1) Å], where a fluoride anion plays an important role in connecting an imidazole ligand of the host [M(Im)6]2+. The strength of an ionic bond between the host and guest is strongly influenced by the F−(H2O)n water cluster adjacent to the ligand with NH…F distances of 2.607–2.755 Å. The TGA, IR and XRD studies for the above three compounds at different testing temperatures suggested that the fluorine anion water cluster, F−(H2O)n, was very stable. This result distinctly differentiates these compounds from the reported ones containing neutral water cluster molecules. This phenomenon indicated the stronger anionic hydrogen-bond interaction between F− and H2O, which also confirmed the intracluster proton transfer process F−·H2O → HF·OH−. This result suggests that the fluorine anions and water molecules are H-bonded to each other in an alternating fashion within the fluoride−water hybrid cluster, where a fluorine anion plays the important role of connecting the host metal complex and guest water cluster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel and facile strategy was proposed for precisely controlling the crystal size of ZIF-8, ZnCo bimetallic ZIFs and also NPs@ZIF-8 by separating the nucleation and growth. The fundamentals of crystallization of this strategy were elaborately investigated, and the size effect on the internal diffusion was explored for a series of Pt@ZIF-8 catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Yb3+-doped Sr3Gd2(BO3)4 (Yb:SGB) crystal was grown using the Czochralski method. A systematic investigation of the disordered structure characteristics, polarized spectral properties and continuous wave (CW) laser performances of this crystal was reported for the first time. Due to the statistical distributions of Gd3+ and Sr2+ ions, the absorption and emission spectra are strongly inhomogeneously broadened when introducing Yb3+ in the host. This feature of the broad spectra facilitates efficient pumping of InGaAs diodes and production of ultrafast pulse lasers. A maximum CW laser output power of 2.82 W under an absorbed pump power of 6.4 W was achieved with a central wavelength of 1055 nm, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 54% and an optical conversion efficiency of 44%. The results reveal that Yb:SGB is an excellent candidate for an ultrafast pulse laser crystal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yb:CaLuxGd1−xAlO4 (Yb:CLGA) crystals have been grown and studied for the first time. A more disordered structure than that of the Yb:CaGdAlO4 (Yb:CGA) crystal was designed by introducing Lu3+ ions into the crystal. The absorption spectra at 9.6 K provided clear evidence for the disordered structure of the Yb:CLGA crystal. Moreover, further spectral broadening was achieved compared to that of the Yb:CGA crystal. The crystal quality and spectroscopic properties of the Yb:CLGA crystal with the highest degree of disorder were investigated in detail. Improved ultrafast laser oscillators, in terms of narrower pulse width and higher peak power, are expected with this modified crystal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Yb3+-doped Sr3Gd2(BO3)4 (Yb:SGB) crystal was grown using the Czochralski method. A systematic investigation of the disordered structure characteristics, polarized spectral properties and continuous wave (CW) laser performances of this crystal was reported for the first time. Due to the statistical distributions of Gd3+ and Sr2+ ions, the absorption and emission spectra are strongly inhomogeneously broadened when introducing Yb3+ in the host. This feature of the broad spectra facilitates efficient pumping of InGaAs diodes and production of ultrafast pulse lasers. A maximum CW laser output power of 2.82 W under an absorbed pump power of 6.4 W was achieved with a central wavelength of 1055 nm, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 54% and an optical conversion efficiency of 44%. The results reveal that Yb:SGB is an excellent candidate for an ultrafast pulse laser crystal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explored the growth of the highly nonlinear optical stilbazolium salt 4-N,N-dimethylamino-4-N-methyl stilbazolium naphthalene-2-sulfonate (DSNS) by a slow evaporation method. The grown crystals are large size and exhibit the good optical quality. The harvested crystals, having suitable dimensions of ~5 mm x 3 mm and thickness in the range of 0.2-0.5 mm², were formed when the anionic additives STPB (sodium tetraphenylborate) and DTPA (diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid anion) were introduced into the pure DSNS solution and are reported for the first time. The grown crystals are highly suitable for fabrication of photonic devices and waveguiding applications. Through recrystallization of DSNS using various mixed solvents and under different conditions, we obtained different crystalline phases. The grown crystals were subjected to single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis to confirm the cell parameters and the crystallinity was examined by powder X-ray diffraction analysis. The various modes of functional groups present in the synthesized compound were confirmed by FT-IR and NMR spectral analysis. The transparency range was analyzed by UV-vis-NIR spectral studies. The TGA/DTA analysis reveals that the crystal is stable up to 300.2 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal crystals are assumed to form through a combined process of Ostwald ripening and oriented attachment. Our experiments and simulations, however, indicate that metal crystals are grown in a multistep self-assembly process with metal nanoparticles as basic building blocks. The shapes of the intermediate dendritic structures are determined by the geometric and energetic features of the nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hierarchical, three-fold symmetrical, single-crystalline gold dendrites are synthesized on different metal substrates including Al, Zn, and Ni in a mixture of ethanol and water with the assistance of an ionic liquid. Structural characterizations suggest that the obtained gold dendrites are grown along the directions. Such -oriented gold dendrites are seldom reported. Both the metal substrate and the volume ratio of ethanol and water have demonstrated a significant effect on the dendrite morphologies. The obtained gold dendrites are found to yield large SERS enhancement factors for rhodamine 6G (R6G) and the morphology of the branches is a key for the enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epitaxial Li4Ti5O12thin-films were successfully synthesized on SrTiO3single-crystal substrates with (111), (110), and (100) lattice plane orientations using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Thin-film X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed that the Li4Ti5O12films had the same orientation as the SrTiO3substrates: Li4Ti5O12(111) on SrTiO3(111), Li4Ti5O12(110) on SrTiO3(110), and Li4Ti5O12(100) on SrTiO3(100). These epitaxial films contained island structures, and the morphology of the (111), (110), and (100) films, observed by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), exhibited angular, needle-like, and circular shapes, respectively. The electrochemical properties of 20 nm thick Li4Ti5O12(111) and (110) films were investigated by cyclic voltammetry. Reversible intercalation proceeded through both lattice planes due to the three-dimensional diffusion pathway of lithium in the spinel framework. Reduction peaks in the first cathodic scan appeared at different positions from those in subsequent scans, suggesting a surface reconstruction at the Li4Ti5O12surface due to interfacial reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epitaxial thin films of multiferroic BiFeO3(BFO) are successfully grown on (100) SrTiO3substrates using a hydrothermal synthesis method at 120–200 °C in a relatively short time of 2–8 h. It is found that the morphology evolution of the (001)PC-oriented BFO films over time and temperature involve unique dissolution–reprecipitation reactions, whereby initial large sparse islands dissolve, and re-precipitate into dense mosaic-like structures that further grow vertically, resembling those of terrace-like structures. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and ψ-ω-2high resolution thin film X-ray diffraction scans suggest that the BFO films have relaxed to a monoclinic structure—different from the rhombohedral bulk BFO powders. Peak fittings of the powders and films reveal that the lattice parameters contract when either reaction time or temperature is increased. Similar lattice contraction is also observed when the films/powder are annealed at 550 °C in N2atmosphere for 10 min. Dielectric constant and loss, leakage current and ferroelectric properties of the BFO film improve with annealing, attributed to a reduced amount of defects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Well-aligned ZnS porous nanoribbon array has been prepared with a simple one-step solvothermal approach. X-Ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy indicate the formation of ZnS nanoribbon array. Transmission electron microscope measurements reveal that the porous nanoribbons are composed of a large amount of connected nanocrystallites with sizes of about 2–5 nm as the building blocks. These ZnS nanocrystallites are all found to adopt the same crystallographic direction. Uniform separated nanopores exist among these nanopraticles. A possible formation mechanism of the nanoribbon array and a porous structure are proposed. The room-temperature luminescence property of the as-prepared ZnS porous nanoribbon array is also studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we fabricated crystalline FePO4microstructures with controlled morphologies at relatively low temperature through kinetic manipulation. The morphology evolution was directly observed during the experiments. The morphologies were mainly determined by the amount of the H3PO4in the reaction system. The morphologies of the obtained FePO4changed from rugby to porous microsphere through controlling the concentration of the H3PO4. During the growth of the final porous microspheres, we observed some interesting processes which revealed the special configuration of FePO4micro/nanostructures. The rational growth mechanism of the FePO4microstructures was discussed in detail, which was significant not only for researching the properties of iron(III) phosphate, but was also important to understand the kinetic process of crystal growth and guide the synthesis of other crystalline materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clusters of ZnS nanorods have been fabricated by co-deposition of ZnS and Zn on a gold film at 530 °C. The as-obtained product is comprised of uniform ZnS nanorods (about 200 nm in diameter and 1–2 μ in length) with preferred [001] orientation, showing a polar top/bottom surface. The nanomaterials show strong green emission centered at 520 nm at room temperature. The structures and morphologies of the clusters were studied by means of X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and a mechanism for the growth of ZnS nanorods has been suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel apatite-type compound, (Na2.5Bi2.5)(PO4)3(F,OH), NBPF, in the form of single-crystal microtubes with well-faceted, hexagonal morphologies in both exterior and interior surfaces, has been synthesized under hydrothermal conditions without addition of any template, surfactant or metal catalyst. Single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis confirms that Na+and Bi3+ions completely replace the Ca2+ions in the apatite-like structure and jointly occupy three crystallographic sites with significantly different site preferences [Bi0.61Na0.39at the 6csite, and Bi0.45Na0.55and Bi0.23Na0.77at the 2bsites, space group P63(No. 173)]. Time-dependent experiments show that these NBPFmicrotubes form viaa fluoride-induced, in situchemical reaction nucleation–dissolution–recrystallization growth mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five-fold symmetrical star-shaped (s-) multiply twinned particles (MTPs) of molybdenum (s-Mo-MTPs) were successfully prepared by atmospheric H2/Ar microplasma jet. The formation of MTPs in materials whose stable phase is not an fcc structure has been reported in only a few cases with small quantities, and the MTPs have never been prepared in Mo whose stable phase is a body-centered cubic (bcc) structure. In this study, s-Mo-MTPs were formed as the dominant product and densely grown on the substrate. Each s-Mo-MTP grew along a five-fold axis, and the star-shaped cross-section area became larger toward the top. This top-heavy morphology is unique among the morphologies of MTPs reported up to now. Here, we report on a simple method to prepare s-Mo-MTPs using atmospheric H2/Ar microplasma jet, the details of the morphology and the microstructure, and the growth mechanism discussed based on our observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dendrites and rectangular prisms of orthorhombic CaTiO3were synthesized massively by reacting titanium tetraisopropoxide with Ca(OH)2in basic solutions at 120 °C. Dendrites were formed in dilute base solution with moderate stirring while rectangular prisms were formed in concentrated base solution or with vigorous stirring. The 3-D hierarchical dendrites are constructed by a main branch, from which two side branches grow 48° to the trunk. The growth directions of the branches were identified to be {102} and {012). On the other hand, the CaTiO3rectangular prisms have {110}, and {001} facets and a longitudinal direction along the normal vector of the {001} planes. The formation of the two distinct morphologies results from different growth behavior. Under non-equilibrium conditions, interface kinetics markedly affects the reaction, resulting from pressure field, heat flow, and crystal orientation, which leads to the formation of complex morphology dendrite. Under equilibrium conditions, thermodynamics dominates the reaction, resulting in exposing of the most stable plane, which leads to the formation of rectangular prisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A ZnO hierarchical structure built up of a well ordered nanorod array was obtained by a simple treatment of zincate ion aqueous solution and a zinc foil mixture with sunlight irradiation. The as-prepared ZnO nanorods are all single crystalline with a uniform [0001] preferential growth direction and have an average diameter of approximately 40 nm and a length of approximately 300 nm. It is believed that sunlight gave rise to the driving force for the preformed ZnO nanorod to self-assemble into plates, which served as the substrate for secondary heterogeneous nucleation, and subsequently the crystal growth resulted into formation of a ZnO nanorod array. The formation mechanism of the ZnO hierarchical nanorod array structure was discussed, based on controlled experiment results. Raman spectroscopy, cathodoluminescence and UV-Vis absorbance spectra of the as-prepared ZnO product have been performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The successive effects of rolling up, oriented attachment and Ostwald ripening on the hydrothermal formation of szaibelyite MgBO2(OH) nanowhiskers (diameter: 20–60 nm, aspect ratio: 10–70) from amorphous precursor obtained at room temperature are investigated in this paper, and the MgBO2(OH) nanowhiskers successively experience three various stages in the course of the hydrothermal treatment, dominated viarolling up at an early heating stage, head-to-head overlapped and side-by-side oriented attachment at medium-term crystal growth, and Ostwald ripening at late hydrothermal coarsening, which lead to rudimental 1D MgBO2(OH), lotus root-like MgBO2(OH) with a concavo-convex surface, and uniform MgBO2(OH) nanowhiskers with a smooth surface and a high aspect ratio, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ZnO nanostructures of diverse morphologies such as nanowires, nanoneedles, nanorods, flower-like, and square-shaped have been successfully synthesized by a facile one-step aqueous based chemical approach. The fabrication method is simple, reproducible, quick, economical, and environmentally benign. The method to achieve considerable control over shape comprises two important parameters, i.e.concentration control of precursors, and applying polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) and polyethylene glycol (PEG), respectively, as capping agents during the synthesis. A precise and systematic control over the concentration of the precursor leads to different geometries of ZnO nanostructures. Apart from the shape control, we also found that the PVP renders a tight control over the aspect ratio from 1 to 10 with respect to the amount (20 to 2 wt%) of PVP. The variation of polymer concentration in the reaction media controls the density of homogeneous nucleation and the crystal growth along the c-axis. The addition of PEG confines the nanowire diameter to ∼70 nm and the length to ∼5 µm. The nanowires, nanorods, nanoflowers and nanodisks are crystalline in nature with wurtzite structure and hexagonal symmetry. Using photoluminescence (PL) and a physical property measurement system (PPMS), we demonstrate that the room-temperature ferromagnetic behavior in these nanostructures possibly originates from the defects present in the sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The imitative synthesis of the ionic liquid [bmim][Co(CO)4], carried out in organic solvents instead of water, produced an unexpected liquid complex with partial crystallization. The resulting solid was confirmed to be the novel hetero-cation salt, [bmim]K[Co(CO)4]2(1) and a crystallographic investigation revealed an extremely unusual (CO)7–K coordination mode. When the organic cation was replaced by [C4Py]+, similar crystallization was also obtained, forming [C4Py]K[Co(CO)4]2(2), which has an analogous structure. Both of these cases indicate an interesting influence that these organic cations have on the crystallization of organometallic structures that yields new structural examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A supramolecular architecture formed by H-bonded assemblage of ditopic bisimidazoliumbenzene cations with anionic metal-oxalate modules shows permanent porosity upon guests release; the reversible sorption process being accompanied by crystal-to-crystal transformations. Additional macroporosity for the material was achieved by controlled growth of crystals with tubular morphology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein we report a general synthesis strategy for metallic nanocrystals in a two-phase liquid–liquid system, which involves a quite fast nucleation stage overlapped with the growth stage within 10 min. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By comparing the photocatalytic bactericidal effect on different crystal faces of bulk ZnO crystal, we found that an electron degradation mechanism dominates the photocatalytic processes of ZnO material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A controlled growth of heterogeneous nanostructure of well-dispersed 1D monocrystalline rutile and 0D anatase TiO2is achieved under mild conditions by acid peptization of lamellar titanate which formed after NaOH treatment of the hydrolysate of titanium tetra-n-butoxide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]