To date, it is still challenging for the exact understanding of the formation mechanism of morphologically various micro/nanocrystals. Now, as the frontispiece gallery reported in a recent edition of Advanced Materials, 21(20), 2068-2071, 2009, a research group led by Prof. Lian Gao in Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences has successfully realized the consecutive evolution of a series of Cu2O polyhedra including cube, octahedron and dodecahedron by simply adjusting the amount of oleic acid in one wet chemistry system. They disclosed the role of particle-based nonclassical crystallization played in the initial stage of the crystal growth and identified the synergic effect of oriented attachment and ripening mechanism. Their results are of significance for understanding the crystallization process of inorganic micro/nanocrystals, especially for its initial stage, which can result in the effective adjustment of the size and shape.

This work was financially supported by the National Key Project of Fundamental Research (Grant No. 2005CB6236-05) and Shanghai Nanotechnology Promotion Center (No. 0852nm01900).