Controlled Crystallization of Sodium Chloride Nanocrystals in Microdrop­lets Produced by Electrospray from an Ultra‐Dilute Solution

Abstract

Controlled crystallization is very important for crystal growth. The electrospray (ES) technique has attracted great interest thanks to its advantages of facile manipulation of micrometer droplets and the generation of fine and charged droplets with very narrow size dispersion. In this work, nanocrystals with cubic shapes with 32 nm edges were successfully grown from ultra-dilute NaCl solution (1 µg mL–1) on a millisecond timescale by an ES technique. Dispersed and charged microdroplets were created by ES. In the process, an increase in ion strength and built-in electric field in microdroplets promoted nucleation and growth. Moreover, solvent evaporation increased solute and charge concentration and decreased the size of the microdroplets, which had a further effect on nucleation and growth. The morphologies of crystals were the competitive results of ion strength and evaporation. Fortunately, these physicochemical properties can be controlled facilely by adjusting the ES parameters. This report suggests potential application of ES technology for controllable crystallization of pharmaceuticals, proteins, etc.