{"id":3335,"date":"2026-03-09T10:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T09:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iop.fnwi.uva.nl\/scm\/?p=3335"},"modified":"2026-03-12T10:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T09:54:10","slug":"we-reveal-the-mechanism-behind-spherical-assemblies-of-nanocrystals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iop.fnwi.uva.nl\/scm\/index.php\/2026\/03\/09\/we-reveal-the-mechanism-behind-spherical-assemblies-of-nanocrystals\/","title":{"rendered":"We reveal the mechanism behind spherical assemblies of nanocrystals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>We reveal that for mixtures of different ions, something extraordinary occurs. Instead of forming a single flawless crystal, the matter can organize itself into so-called spherulites\u2014mesmerizing, spherical structures that sprout like tiny sea urchins or coral heads under the microscope. They uncovered how subtle shifts in ion composition\u2014specifically, the presence of so-called divalent ions in highly viscous mixed sulfate solutions\u2014drive the formation of well-organized sodium sulfate nanocrystals into spherulitic shapes at room temperature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"944\" height=\"617\" src=\"https:\/\/iop.fnwi.uva.nl\/scm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tess-noushine.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3336\" srcset=\"https:\/\/iop.fnwi.uva.nl\/scm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tess-noushine.jpg 944w, https:\/\/iop.fnwi.uva.nl\/scm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tess-noushine-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/iop.fnwi.uva.nl\/scm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tess-noushine-768x502.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 944px) 100vw, 944px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Tess Heeremans et al, Controlled spherulitic crystal growth from salt mixtures, Communications Chemistry (2026). DOI: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s42004-026-01892-0\">10.1038\/s42004-026-01892-0 <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Link IoP: <a href=\"https:\/\/iop.uva.nl\/content\/news\/2026\/02\/spherical-assemblies-of-nanocrystals.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Spherical assemblies of nanocrystals &#8211; IoP &#8211; University of Amsterdam<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We reveal that for mixtures of different ions, something extraordinary occurs. Instead of forming a single flawless crystal, the matter can organize itself into so-called spherulites\u2014mesmerizing, spherical structures that sprout like tiny sea urchins or coral heads under the microscope. They uncovered how subtle shifts in ion composition\u2014specifically, the presence of so-called divalent ions in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iop.fnwi.uva.nl\/scm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3335"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iop.fnwi.uva.nl\/scm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iop.fnwi.uva.nl\/scm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iop.fnwi.uva.nl\/scm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iop.fnwi.uva.nl\/scm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3335"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iop.fnwi.uva.nl\/scm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3337,"href":"https:\/\/iop.fnwi.uva.nl\/scm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3335\/revisions\/3337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iop.fnwi.uva.nl\/scm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iop.fnwi.uva.nl\/scm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iop.fnwi.uva.nl\/scm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iop.fnwi.uva.nl\/scm\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}