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The formation of crystals is an interesting thing in nature. It happens all the time, sometimes very slowly, and other times relatively quickly. The way that crystals form in a particular substance will have a major impact on how strong it is, the color, and many other things.
For some things, like water, we have a pretty good idea of how the crystals form, which is why humans know a lot about ice. The reason we can have such a good understanding is because it is so easy to observe.
Water will crystalize when it gets cold enough, and we can watch that either with our eyes or under a microscope to study the process.
For other things, however, it isn’t nearly as easy. The formation of platinum crystals within liquid metal is a key example of this. In some advanced technologies, platinum needs to be melted down and then allowed to crystalize within melted gallium or gallium-indium liquid. This is because the gallium or gallium-indium metals remain liquid at 500°C (932°F), but the platinum will easily crystalize.
This crystallization would happen naturally, but since the liquid metal it is in is opaque, it was hard to observe to fully understand exactly how it happened.
Researchers used X-ray computed tomography (AKA, a CT Scan) of the metal to observe what was happening. This was recorded, and the results can be seen in this video:
In a statement about the process, the lead researcher, Professor Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh from the University of Sydney said:
“Witnessing the formation of crystals inside liquid metals like Gallium is a challenging task. Gallium is a very dense element whose atoms are tightly packed and is so opaque it is impossible for most microscopes to pass through a thick layer of Gallium. It was a really special moment to be able to develop a method to do this.”
This is an exciting advancement that has many potential uses. The results of their research were published in the journal Nature Communications. The team is excited about the potential it has for helping to create better crystals of various metals that can be used for future technologies. Kalantar-Zadeh explains:
“To see how liquid metals can be harnessed to shape the future of smart materials and identify those that play important roles in energy sources, we need to understand their metallic and chemical properties, inside and out. With X-ray computed tomography, we can now truly see what we are working with and design liquid metal grown crystals to grow more precisely.”
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The same method could likely be used for other materials where highly precise formation conditions are needed to get the optimal results.
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