TY  - JOUR
AU  - Scheck, Johanna
AU  - Wu, Baohu
AU  - Drechsler, Markus
AU  - Rosenberg, Rose
AU  - Van Driessche, Alexander E. S.
AU  - Stawski, Tomasz M.
AU  - Gebauer, Denis
TI  - The Molecular Mechanism of Iron(III) Oxide Nucleation
JO  - The journal of physical chemistry letters
VL  - 7
IS  - 16
SN  - 1948-7185
CY  - Washington, DC
PB  - ACS
M1  - FZJ-2016-07401
SP  - 3123 - 3130
PY  - 2016
AB  - A molecular understanding of the formation of solid phases from solution would be beneficial for various scientific fields. However, nucleation pathways are still not fully understood, whereby the case of iron (oxyhydr)oxides poses a prime example. We show that in the prenucleation regime, thermodynamically stable solute species up to a few nanometers in size are observed, which meet the definition of prenucleation clusters. Nucleation then is not governed by a critical size, but rather by the dynamics of the clusters that are forming at the distinct nucleation stages, based on the chemistry of the linkages within the clusters. This resolves a longstanding debate in the field of iron oxide nucleation, and the results may generally apply to oxides forming via hydrolysis and condensation. The (molecular) understanding of the chemical basis of phase separation is paramount for, e.g., tailoring size, shape and structure of novel nanocrystalline materials.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000381781800010
C6  - pmid:27466739
DO  - DOI:10.1021/acs.jpclett.6b01237
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/824899
ER  -