Issue 28, 2025

The overestimated capability of fluid shear to induce secondary nucleation: an urgent call for diligently executed control experiments

Abstract

Many examples from the literature emphasize the important role of fluid shear in secondary nucleation. Moreover, they confidently state that fluid shear alone is surely capable of inducing secondary crystal formation. In this article, inspired by the most representative works in the field, four sets of experiments were designed to specifically isolate this fluid shear-induced secondary nucleation phenomenon. Great care was taken to meticulously conduct control experiments (avoiding attrition, but also initial breeding and primary nucleation), thus ensuring the envisioned isolation of secondary nucleation from fluid shear. Contrary to current conception in the community, no fluid shear-induced secondary nucleation could be observed in the conducted experiments, suggesting that its occurrence is much rarer than currently perceived. Based on these results, we also strongly encourage crystallization scientists to review their experimental procedures (control experiments) as to guarantee that secondary nucleation from fluid shear is indeed the acting nucleation phenomenon in their studies.

Graphical abstract: The overestimated capability of fluid shear to induce secondary nucleation: an urgent call for diligently executed control experiments

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
24 mar. 2025
Accepted
08 jún. 2025
First published
09 jún. 2025
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

CrystEngComm, 2025,27, 4810-4815

The overestimated capability of fluid shear to induce secondary nucleation: an urgent call for diligently executed control experiments

L. De Vrieze and S. Kuhn, CrystEngComm, 2025, 27, 4810 DOI: 10.1039/D5CE00323G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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