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Zinc is a metal that sublimes into shiny crystals on cooling. It is the 24th most abundant element in the Earth’s crust and is mined from sulfidic ore deposits. Zinc has good corrosion resistance, is a fair conductor of electricity and is widely used as a coating for metals, plastics and paper to improve their appearance, electrical properties and durability.
The present study focuses on the structural characterization of crystal zinc by X-ray diffraction, 1H NMR spectroscopy and high resolution single-crystal electrophoresis. A detailed analysis of the crystal water is also performed using DFT and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) calculations. The results show that the crystal water enhances the key electrochemical performance of emerging divalent zinc battery electrodes by stabilizing Zn2+ ions within the inner-sphere zinc complex coordinated with the water molecules.
We also report a new method for the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) and solution-liquid-solid (SLS) growth of one-dimensional zinc crystals with tunable size on isotropic liquid substrate surfaces. This method is based on the characteristic adhesion between metallic atoms and the liquid surface and can be used to guide the formation of a variety of metallic crystals on the liquid substrates such as carbon nanotubes14,15, elemental semiconductors18,19, compound semiconductors20, etc.
To generate uniform zinc crystals, the BbZIP protein was dissolved in monoolein and the mixture was sandwiched by 800 nl of well solution containing 33% PEG 400, 100 mM NaCl, 100 mM CdCl2 and 100 mM tris-HCl (pH 7.5). Stick-shaped crystals grew after about 2 weeks under these conditions and were dehydrated with a MiTeGen micromesh and flash-frozen in liquid nitrogen.