CrystEngComm Blog

Vanadium oxides with various connectivities of distorted VO₆ polyhedra are characterized by tremendous structural diversity, which make them a seemingly huge playground for solid-state chemists.

In this exciting CrystEngComm Hot Article, Sarbajit Banerjee et al. describe a novel seeded growth strategy to obtain nanostars of VO₂ and V₂O₅.

The synthetic strategy offers a reproducible alternative to previous approaches for growing octahedral microcrystallites and nanostars with star, snowflake, and asterisk geometries.

Why not check out other amazing images on our Crystal Clear page here.

A VO-seeded approach for the growth of star-shaped VO₂ and V₂O₅ nanocrystals: facile synthesis, structural characterization, and elucidation of electronic structure
Luisa Whittaker, Jesus M. Velazquez and Sarbajit Banerjee
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00832J

In this CrystEngComm Hot article, Jon Zubieta and colleagues at Syracuse University, review the solid state coordination chemistry of three coordination polymers (1,2,4-triazole, 1,2,4-triazolate and 4-pyridyltetrazolate).

This study on the recent literature gives an excellent insight into the latest developments in this field, including important structural trends and stucture/property correlations.

Read the full article for FREE to find out more…

Solid state coordination chemistry of metal-1,2,4-triazolates and the related metal-4-pyridyltetrazolates
Wayne Ouellette, Stephanie Jones and Jon Zubieta
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00919A, Highlight

FREE to read until 1st April

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Songjun Zeng, Qibin Yang et al. demonstrate a simple lanthanide doping route for modifying the crystal structure (crystal phase, shape, size and physical properties) of monodisperse multifunctional NaYbF4 nanocrystals.

Lanthanide-doped UC nanocrystals attract attention due to their novel UC emission properties and potential applications in optics, biolabels, colour displays and as light-emitting diodes.

When compared with conventional bioimaging materials, Ln doped UC nanocrystals are considered the most appropriate candidates for biological fluorescent labels due to weak autofluorescence, deep penetration of non-invasive NIR excitation, low radiation damage and photobleaching.

Modifying crystal phase, shape, size, optical and magnetic properties of monodispersed multifunctional NaYbF4 nanocrystals through lanthanide doping
Songjun Zeng, Guozhong Ren, Changfu Xu and Qibin Yang
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00833H

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Shenghuang Lin and colleagues investigate the formation and suppression of misoriented grains in silicon carbide (SiC), a well-known semiconductor material.

The growth rate of misoriented grains at the margins of the crystal is faster than that of the matrix and many thermal decomposition cavities exist at the initial growth stage. This indicates that the misoriented grains may originate from thermal decomposition cavities.

The work will be useful in developing preparation methods that suppress the formation of misoriented grains resulting in high quality, large diameter SiC crystals.

Such high quality crystals are required by industry to meet the full potential of SiC-based devices.

Read more for free until 22nd March 2011:

Formation and suppression of misoriented grains in 6H-SiC crystals
Shenghuang Lin, Zhiming Chen, Peng Liang, Yintu Ba and Sujuan Liu
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00646G, Paper

Researchers from the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai have developed a simple strategy for simultaneously controlling the morphology and chemical composition of hydroxyapatite powders.

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, nanoparticles, nanowires and nanosheets were produced by hydrothermal treatment of calcium silicate precursors without the use of surfactants, template-directing reagents or organic solvents. The chemical composition was controlled by regulation of the chemical composition of the precursor and the reaction ratio of the precursor/solution.

The strategy could be useful for optimising the performance of hydroxyapatite in its many applications, including biomedical materials, gas sensing and catalysis.

Read more for free until 22nd March 2011.

Synthesis of element-substituted hydroxyapatite with controllable morphology and chemical composition using calcium silicate as precursor
Kaili Lin, Jiang Chang, Xiaoguo Liu, Lei Chen and Yanling Zhou
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00835D, Paper

Designing coordination polymers with both lanthanide and transition metal centres is of great interest to the MOF community in terms of the often wierd and wonderful architectures that can be achieved as well as the properties that can be derived from these networks in such diverse areas as magnetism, luminescence, catalysis and molecular adsorption.

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Su et al. have synthesised four such coordination polymers with Ln–Cu (3d–4f) centres that show intriguing properties and structures, opening the door for other structures to be synthesised in the future.

Read for free until 22 nd March 2001 here.

3D lanthanide–transition-metal–organic frameworks constructed from tetranuclear {Ln4} SBUs and Cu centres with fsc net
Jing Xu, Weiping Su* and Maochun Hong
CrystEngComm, 2011,DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00800A, Paper

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Pal et al., describe a modified hydrothermal (MHT) reaction for the nucleation, growth and reversible dehydration of a well defined uranium oxide hydroxide hydrate species.

Shaping nano-/microcrystals using a ‘bottom-up’ method needs considerable attention.   This is important as the morphology, dimensionality and size of the material can have a effect on its physical and chemical properties.

Read for free until 22nd March 2011 and find out more about these different crystal morphologies here.

Interested in amazing crystal images?  Why not check out our Crystal Clear section.

Morphology controlled uranium oxide hydroxide hydrate for catalysis, luminescence and SERS studies
Mukul Pradhan, Sougata Sarkar, Arun Kumar Sinha, Mrinmoyee Basu and Tarasankar Pal*
CrystEngComm, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00666A, Paper