Mesocrystals and their related structures

Mesocrystals can be regarded as the intermediate state between single crystals and polycrystals. In the present article, mesocrystal is defined as the oriented nanocrystals in the same crystallographic direction. Recently, a number of reports have shown a number of related structures to mesocrystals. In this section, five types of mesocrystals and their related structures are introduced. The classification is based on the degree of the ordering and the orientation of the unit crystals, even though the size and shape of the unit crystals are different. 

As reported in detail in the reviews and in the literature, mesocrystal in the narrow sense of the term is the assembly of oriented nanocrystals with organic molecules (Fig. Id). A variety of oriented nanocrystals have been 

For example, a variety of mesocrystals, such as CaCOs, BaS04, Fc203, and Ti02, were synthesized in the presence of organic molecules. 

Unit crystals with the adsorption of organic molecules are arranged in the same crystallographic orientation. Colfen and co-workers reported on the formation of the calcite CaCOs mesocrystals in the presence of polystyrene sulfonate and its block polymers (Fig. The faceted 

Since the nanocrystals are the building blocks, versatile macroscopic shapes can be formed with the assistance of organic molecules. For example, the cone-shaped and hierarchical architectures of sulfates and chromates 

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Recent advances in mesocrystals and their related structures... 

In the present article, we focus on the structures and applications of mesocrystals. In Section 1.2, the structure is reviewed using biominerals as a typical model of mesocrystal. In Section 2, mesocrystals and their related structures are summarized with recent papers. In Section 3, the applications of mesocrystals are introduced on the basis of recent reports. 

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