PNNL

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) chemist Xin Zhang has rallied a multi-author team to produce a book for the American Chemical Society (ACS) published this fall.

Crystallization via Nonclassical Pathways Volume 1: Nucleation, Assembly, Observation & Application, is expected to be a resource for researchers and students in physics, chemistry, geology, biology, engineering, and material science.

The volume should help lay out the latest understanding of “nonclassical crystallization processes,” said Zhang, “especially for the fields of nucleation, assembly, observation and application. This could also help identify mineralization processes in natural systems and develop novel functionalized materials in both laboratory and industrial settings.”

This ACS book aims to provide updated information on fundamental nonclassical crystallization research from international leaders in the field, including theory and experiments. It’s also designed for experienced researchers to reinforce their knowledge on scopes of development of new techniques, especially state-of-the-art in situ characterization tools, to understand mechanisms of crystallization via nonclassical pathways.

“Crystallization via nonclassical pathways appears to be widespread during the formation of minerals in a variety of geochemical systems, in biological systems, and has become a popular method to synthesize advanced materials on both laboratory and industrial scales,” said Zhang, who received the M.T. Thomas Award for Outstanding Postdoctoral Achievement in 2017.

Zhang said experts from around the world contributed to the 12-chapter ACS volume, including PNNL Battelle Fellow Jim De Yoreo and PNNL computational scientist Maria Sushko.

Zhang’s work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Basic Energy Sciences Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division through its Geosciences Program at PNNL led by Laboratory Fellow Kevin Rosso, as well as the Energy Frontier Research Center entitled Interfacial Dynamics in Radioactive Environments and Materials (IDREAM).