Oriented Attachment and Mesocrystals

Abstract

Despite the good applicability of the Ostwald ripening model, recent studies have demonstrated that this mechanism cannot be considered responsible for the growth process in some systems or in nonequilibrium systems [1–9]. The oriented attachment mechanism was proposed as another significant process, which may occur during nanocrystal growth [10–14]. By this mechanism, nanocrystals can grow by the alignment and coalescence of neighboring particles by eliminating a common boundary. The driving force for this mechanism is the decrease in the surface and grain boundaries’ free energies.