Crystal Growth in Gels

Dear Colleagues,

It is well known that crystal growth in gel media represents an alternative and powerful method to grow high-quality crystals with different chemical natures (sparingly soluble inorganic salts, coordination polymers, proteins), as well as an efficient way to optimize growth conditions. Gelification of the growth solutions, in fact, favors a diffusive mass transport of the solutes by suppression of the convection currents, prevents sedimentation, and guarantees an effective control of nucleation sites and density.

More recently, other important effects of the gel matrix have been dealt with and studied; among them:

• modification of macro and micro-morphology of crystals;
• polymorph control;
• synthesis of new crystalline phases;
• phenomena of gel network incorporation inside the crystals to yield composite crystalline materials.

Moreover, an increasing interest has been addressed towards the application of the gel method in a wide range of organic solvents by using specific gelators or gel-like systems.

As experts in the field, we intend to invite researchers to submit their papers to this Special Issue of Crystals dedicated to “Crystal Growth in Gels”. Manuscripts can be related to theoretical and/or experimental aspects of crystallization in gel media. For example, contributions discussing advanced experimental setups, nucleation and growth kinetics, polymorphsim, structure-properties relationships, gel-mediated synthesis of novel materials, intermolecular recognition and related energetic/thermodynamic aspects, surface properties, and computational simulations, will be welcome. See the keyword list below for further information on the covered topics.

Prof. Dr. Silvia Rizzato
Dr. Leonardo Lo Presti
Prof. Dr. Massimo Moret
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Crystals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.