Researchers investigate how lasers can lead to cleaner crystallization process
When Bruce Garetz, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, examined the test tubes that his student had exposed to laser light in his lab, he noticed something odd: The tubes that once contained liquid solution now contained what appeared to be crystals, implying that nucleation and crystal growth, two steps of the process of crystallization, had occurred.
Why had this happened? After scouring scientific literature for explanations, he found no answers. Now Garetz and colleague Ryan Hartman, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, will have a chance to pull the curtain back on this process. On June 16, 2021, the pair received a $453,103 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to design and study microfluidic non-photochemical, laser-induced nucleation (NPLIN) of preselected organic molecules.
Crystallization is more than just visually impressive — it is a process that forms the basis for thousands of industrial chemical mechanisms essential to the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, dyes, food additives, even explosives. Understanding laser-light induced crystallization could lead to more sustainable industrial processes.