Inhibition of Crystal Nucleation and Growth: A Review

The formation of crystalline materials typically follows the nucleation and crystal growth pathway, which enables scientists to engineer crystal properties, and the metastable status that exists before nucleation plays a decisive role in affecting the feasibility of crystallization. Over the past decade, there has been significant interest in stabilizing metastable states, such as amorphous structures, metastable polymorphism, and supersaturated solutions, which requires the inhibition of crystal nucleation and growth. Based on the theories of crystal nucleation and growth, this paper provides a comprehensive review of molecular-scale inhibition techniques and their corresponding mechanisms. Nature additives and tailored additives are the most important methods for modulating molecular assembly, which can be scanned or designed following the principles of molecular interactions and docking. Confining molecules within nanometric spaces such as nano- or microporous materials or artificial interfaces can hinder the motions of molecules, thus affecting nucleation. Additionally, physical fields including magnetic, ultrasonic, and electric fields are reviewed in comparison of the acceleration and inhibition of nucleation. Furthermore, we summarize the application scenarios where inhibiting nucleation and crystal growth is essential across various domains including pharmaceuticals, biominerals, ice crystallization, etc. Lastly, research and application prospects are proposed for further exploration of the inhibition of crystal nucleation and growth.