Silky chocolate, a better medical drug, or solar panels all require the same thing: just the right crystals making up the material. Now, scientists trying to understand the paths crystals take as they form have been able to influence that path by modifying the starting ingredient.
The insights gained from the results, reported April 17 in Nature Materials, could eventually help scientists better control the design of a variety of products for energy or medical technologies.
"The findings address an ongoing debate about crystallization pathways," said materials scientist Jim De Yoreo at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Washington. "They imply you can control the various stages of materials assembly by carefully choosing the structure of your starting molecules."
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