Scientific Program
Plenary Lecture:
From habit change to the choice of polymorph: adsorption effects on crystal growth
Prof. Dino Aquilano (Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Torino)
From habit change to the choice of polymorph: adsorption effects on crystal growth
Prof. Dino Aquilano (Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Torino)
Sessions:
T1 - Fundamentals of nucleation and crystal growth: theory, modeling and experiments
Session Chair: Prof. Silvia Rizzato - silvia.rizzato@unimi.it
This section will be focused on the recent developments in understanding the fundamentals of nucleation and crystal growth from computational and experimental perspectives. Among the topics of interest are: interfacial free energies and equilibrium crystal structure, kinetic phenomena, classical and non-classical nucleation and crystal growth theories, morphology prediction, analysis and modification of crystal habit, fundamentals and novel techniques of crystal growth, natural crystallization, crystal growth under microgravity and crystal growth characterization techniques.
T2 - Epitaxy of inorganic materials: fundamentals and applications
Session Chair: Dr. Paola Prete - paola.prete@cnr.it
The epitaxy of inorganic crystalline structures is a challenging field of materials science, playing a paramount role in the fabrication of electronic, optical and electro-optical devices, exploiting planar multilayers and complex low-dimensional (quantum dots, and nanowires) structures. Also, the emerging field of 2-dimensional (2D) materials, such as graphene and graphene-like compounds, is more and more relying on the so-called van der Waals epitaxy for the controlled growth of 2D heterostructures.
This section intends to address the most recent achievements in the field of science and technology of epitaxial growth of inorganic materials, with emphasis to the synthesis of epitaxial heterostructures, nanosized crystals (nanoepitaxy) and van der Waals epitaxy of 2D layered heterostructures, along with their advanced characterization.
T3 - Organic based materials
Session Chair: Prof. Adele Sassella - adele.sassella@unimib.it
Many physico-chemical processes in organic materials, ranging from solar energy conversion to sensing of chemical or biochemical species, occur at interfaces between organics and other organic, inorganic, or metallic materials. This is why the controlled growth of bulk and low-dimensional materials or nano-sized materials made of organic molecules and the interface properties and processes rise a wide interest in the communities of materials physicists and chemists. This session of ICG2020 is aimed at collecting both experimental and theoretical contributions on the growth of organic-based materials as well as on the surface and interface processes relevant for organic-based solid state devices. Among many other, the following subjects may be addressed: organic thin films, heterostructures, and nanostructures, energy landscape at interfaces, Materials for interface engineering, interfacial versus bulk properties, solar energy conversion, organic sensors and bioelectronics, molecular spintronics, molecular modeling and theoretical models.
T4 - Crystallization for the industry
Session Chair: Dr. Andrea Zappettini - andrea.zappettini@imem.cnr.it
This section will be focused on mass crystallization processes, organic and inorganic materials, analytical methods for material characterization and theoretical models, developed in the Industry. This section is open to subjects belonging to the following fields: fundamentals of industrial crystallization, materials for energy production and storage (e.g., solar cells, lithium-ion batteries), semiconductors and superconductors, pharmaceutical products, cements and concretes, additives, impurities and inhibitors, pigments and materials for cultural heritage, agro-chemicals (e.g., fertilizers), foods (e.g., sugars, chocolates) and molecular sieves (e.g., zeolites).
T5 - Crystal growth in biology
Session Chair: Dr. Simona Fermani - simona.fermani@unibo.it
The field of crystallization in biology is a very wide field that includes crystallization of biological compounds such as biomolecules and biomacromolecules, the formation of inorganic and organic crystals by living organisms and the synthesis and fabrication of bioinspired and biomimetic materials.
Crystallization is a crucial step in the pathway to determine the three-dimensional structure of macromolecules by X-ray diffraction, and even to obtain crystals for specific applications in industry or medicine. Despite the enormous progress made by protein crystallography in last decades, the obtaining of macromolecular crystals of good quality and sufficient size is still the bottleneck of the entire process. This is particularly true in the case of big proteins such as membrane proteins, protein complexes and larger macromolecular assemblies (virus and ribosomes). Macromolecular crystallization is largely empirical in nature, lacking a comprehensive theory, or even a very good base of fundamental data to guide scientist’s efforts. This session will be focused on the recent developments of new methods to influence protein nucleation and crystallization, but also on biomineralization, bioinspired and biomimetic crystallization studies.
T6 - Crystal growth for environment and health
Session Chair: Prof. Giovanni Battista De Giudici - gbgiudic@unica.it
Crystal growth occurs in most of the biological and environmental systems. This occurs for many physiological purposes of different life forms such as creating a scaffold for vertebrates, plant nutrient uptake from soil, pollutant detoxification, adhesion of a biofilm on riverbed, protection of bacteria against UV radiation and so on.
Organisms and organism communities can induce crystal growth by changing the solution chemistry. Alternatively, they exert a cellular control of the crystal morphology and size. In this way, they play a control on the chemistry of the Environment. Understanding molecular machinery involved in (bio)crystal growth is the key to many scientific and practical purposes. Developing bioinspired crystal growth or acquiring the capability to reproduce biocrystal formation offer a significant step ahead in environmental and health technologies.
This session solicits contributions that explore the interactions between life and crystals from the molecular to the macro scale. Crystals-biosphere interfaces of relevance can include biofilms, the rhizosphere, biological tissues and fluids in a wide range of natural and engineered environments. The focus will be on the impact of (bio)crystal growth of the environment and health. Interdisciplinary studies on (bio)crystals grown under different conditions are encouraged.
Session Chair: Prof. Silvia Rizzato - silvia.rizzato@unimi.it
This section will be focused on the recent developments in understanding the fundamentals of nucleation and crystal growth from computational and experimental perspectives. Among the topics of interest are: interfacial free energies and equilibrium crystal structure, kinetic phenomena, classical and non-classical nucleation and crystal growth theories, morphology prediction, analysis and modification of crystal habit, fundamentals and novel techniques of crystal growth, natural crystallization, crystal growth under microgravity and crystal growth characterization techniques.
T2 - Epitaxy of inorganic materials: fundamentals and applications
Session Chair: Dr. Paola Prete - paola.prete@cnr.it
The epitaxy of inorganic crystalline structures is a challenging field of materials science, playing a paramount role in the fabrication of electronic, optical and electro-optical devices, exploiting planar multilayers and complex low-dimensional (quantum dots, and nanowires) structures. Also, the emerging field of 2-dimensional (2D) materials, such as graphene and graphene-like compounds, is more and more relying on the so-called van der Waals epitaxy for the controlled growth of 2D heterostructures.
This section intends to address the most recent achievements in the field of science and technology of epitaxial growth of inorganic materials, with emphasis to the synthesis of epitaxial heterostructures, nanosized crystals (nanoepitaxy) and van der Waals epitaxy of 2D layered heterostructures, along with their advanced characterization.
T3 - Organic based materials
Session Chair: Prof. Adele Sassella - adele.sassella@unimib.it
Many physico-chemical processes in organic materials, ranging from solar energy conversion to sensing of chemical or biochemical species, occur at interfaces between organics and other organic, inorganic, or metallic materials. This is why the controlled growth of bulk and low-dimensional materials or nano-sized materials made of organic molecules and the interface properties and processes rise a wide interest in the communities of materials physicists and chemists. This session of ICG2020 is aimed at collecting both experimental and theoretical contributions on the growth of organic-based materials as well as on the surface and interface processes relevant for organic-based solid state devices. Among many other, the following subjects may be addressed: organic thin films, heterostructures, and nanostructures, energy landscape at interfaces, Materials for interface engineering, interfacial versus bulk properties, solar energy conversion, organic sensors and bioelectronics, molecular spintronics, molecular modeling and theoretical models.
T4 - Crystallization for the industry
Session Chair: Dr. Andrea Zappettini - andrea.zappettini@imem.cnr.it
This section will be focused on mass crystallization processes, organic and inorganic materials, analytical methods for material characterization and theoretical models, developed in the Industry. This section is open to subjects belonging to the following fields: fundamentals of industrial crystallization, materials for energy production and storage (e.g., solar cells, lithium-ion batteries), semiconductors and superconductors, pharmaceutical products, cements and concretes, additives, impurities and inhibitors, pigments and materials for cultural heritage, agro-chemicals (e.g., fertilizers), foods (e.g., sugars, chocolates) and molecular sieves (e.g., zeolites).
T5 - Crystal growth in biology
Session Chair: Dr. Simona Fermani - simona.fermani@unibo.it
The field of crystallization in biology is a very wide field that includes crystallization of biological compounds such as biomolecules and biomacromolecules, the formation of inorganic and organic crystals by living organisms and the synthesis and fabrication of bioinspired and biomimetic materials.
Crystallization is a crucial step in the pathway to determine the three-dimensional structure of macromolecules by X-ray diffraction, and even to obtain crystals for specific applications in industry or medicine. Despite the enormous progress made by protein crystallography in last decades, the obtaining of macromolecular crystals of good quality and sufficient size is still the bottleneck of the entire process. This is particularly true in the case of big proteins such as membrane proteins, protein complexes and larger macromolecular assemblies (virus and ribosomes). Macromolecular crystallization is largely empirical in nature, lacking a comprehensive theory, or even a very good base of fundamental data to guide scientist’s efforts. This session will be focused on the recent developments of new methods to influence protein nucleation and crystallization, but also on biomineralization, bioinspired and biomimetic crystallization studies.
T6 - Crystal growth for environment and health
Session Chair: Prof. Giovanni Battista De Giudici - gbgiudic@unica.it
Crystal growth occurs in most of the biological and environmental systems. This occurs for many physiological purposes of different life forms such as creating a scaffold for vertebrates, plant nutrient uptake from soil, pollutant detoxification, adhesion of a biofilm on riverbed, protection of bacteria against UV radiation and so on.
Organisms and organism communities can induce crystal growth by changing the solution chemistry. Alternatively, they exert a cellular control of the crystal morphology and size. In this way, they play a control on the chemistry of the Environment. Understanding molecular machinery involved in (bio)crystal growth is the key to many scientific and practical purposes. Developing bioinspired crystal growth or acquiring the capability to reproduce biocrystal formation offer a significant step ahead in environmental and health technologies.
This session solicits contributions that explore the interactions between life and crystals from the molecular to the macro scale. Crystals-biosphere interfaces of relevance can include biofilms, the rhizosphere, biological tissues and fluids in a wide range of natural and engineered environments. The focus will be on the impact of (bio)crystal growth of the environment and health. Interdisciplinary studies on (bio)crystals grown under different conditions are encouraged.
