Theme 2
Theme 2: Crystallisation within Defined Micro-environments: Crystal Hotel
Biomineralisation invariably occurs in privileged environments within an organism. This affords an organism exceptional control over mineralisation, dictating what polymorph nucleates, where it forms, and how it grows to its target size and morphology. Far greater control can be achieved than is currently possible in a bulk crystallisation setting. In this sub-project we are constructing microfluidic devices that allow us to mimic such biogenic control and visualize the growth of crystals in situ within the microfluidic chips. Strategies include functionalising the walls of the device to alter the surface properties and including soluble additives to control the polymorph of the product crystals.
Figure. Schematic diagram of a Crystal Hotel device which is composed of circular rooms that are internally patterned with pillars. Each room is surrounded by a circular channel (blue arrow) from which it is separated by a PDMS membrane, which is used to provide gas flow to the room, and a direct feeding channel which supplies solution (yellow arrow).