The development of the depletion zone during ceiling crystallization: phase shifting interferometry and simulation results
| Autor: | Willem J. de Grip, Elias Vlieg, Alaa Adawy, Willem J. P. van Enckevort, Kess M. Marks |
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| Rok vydání: | 2013 |
| Předmět: |
Chemical and physical biology [NCMLS 7]
Materials science Physics::Optics Mineralogy Crystal growth 02 engineering and technology Solid State Chemistry 010402 general chemistry 01 natural sciences law.invention Crystal Depletion region law General Materials Science Crystallization Dissolution GeneralLiterature_REFERENCE(e.g. dictionaries encyclopedias glossaries) General Chemistry Mechanics 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology Condensed Matter Physics Finite element method 0104 chemical sciences Interferometry 0210 nano-technology Protein crystallization |
| Zdroj: | CrystEngComm, 15, 12, pp. 2275-2286 CrystEngComm, 15 (12), pp. 2275-2286 CrystEngComm, 15, 2275-2286 CrystEngComm, 15 (12), 2275-2286 |
| ISSN: | 1466-8033 |
| Popis: | The growth of high quality protein crystals is essential for the determination of their structure. This process is governed by many physical factors such as mass transport and solution flow. The quality of the crystals is usually better under diffusion-limited growth conditions, where a depleted zone of the solution encapsulates the crystal. We developed a Mach–Zehnder-based phase shifting interferometer coupled to image processing software to study the concentration gradients which develop around a crystal during its growth or dissolution. The depletion zones and the diffusion boundary layers around growing and dissolving KH2PO4 crystals are monitored and processed by a MATLAB based algorithm. Our main emphasis was to analyze the ceiling crystallization conditions in which the crystal is placed at the very top of the growth cell and therefore the solute transport is largely diffusion-limited. The experimental results are compared with simulations using finite element-based numerical calculations. The combined results clearly demonstrate the positive effect of the ceiling crystallization approach on crystal growth. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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