Chemistry and Crystal Growth

Abstract

Single‐crystal materials, along with other forms of condensed matter (ceramics, polymers, liquid crystals, etc.) are fundamental to modern technology. The basic research and production of new materials with “tailored” solid‐state physical properties therefore necessitate not only chemical synthesis but also the production of single crystals of a particular morphology (either bulk or thin layer crystals) and well‐defined crystal defects (doping). In this review, an attempt is made to broaden the traditional synthetic concept of chemistry to the process of single‐crystal synthesis. The methods of the resulting approach, which takes into account the specific properties of solid materials, are discussed and illustrated by experimental set‐ups for the solution of a range of problems in chemical crystallization. Also included is recent work on the growing of single crystals of high‐temperature superconductors, organic non‐linear optical compounds, and proteins.