title: Crystallization seeds favour crystallization only during initial growth.
abstract: Crystallization represents the prime example of a disorder-order transition. In realistic situations, however, container walls and impurities are frequently present and hence crystallization is heterogeneously seeded. Rarely the seeds are perfectly compatible with the thermodynamically favoured crystal structure and thus induce elastic distortions, which impede further crystal growth. Here we use a colloidal model system, which not only allows us to quantitatively control the induced distortions but also to visualize and follow heterogeneous crystallization with single-particle resolution. We determine the sequence of intermediate structures by confocal microscopy and computer simulations, and develop a theoretical model that describes our findings. The crystallite first grows on the seed but then, on reaching a critical size, detaches from the seed. The detached and relaxed crystallite continues to grow, except close to the seed, which now prevents crystallization. Hence, crystallization seeds facilitate crystallization only during initial growth and then act as impurities.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Theoretical Physics II: Soft Matter, Heinrich Heine University, Universitätsstrasse 1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.|Theoretical Department, Joint Institute for High Temperatures of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Izhorskaya Street, 13 Boulevard 2, Moscow 125412, Russia.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Allahyarov
authors.affiliation: Condensed Matter Physics Laboratory, Heinrich Heine University, Universitätsstrasse 1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sandomirski
authors.affiliation: Condensed Matter Physics Laboratory, Heinrich Heine University, Universitätsstrasse 1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: S U
authors.initials: SU
authors.lastname: Egelhaaf
authors.affiliation: Institute for Theoretical Physics II: Soft Matter, Heinrich Heine University, Universitätsstrasse 1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Löwen