Experimental measurements of colloidal crystallization in a wide range of volume fractions of charged particles were performed to investigate the liquid-metastable-stable transition process. To fit the obtained experimental data, we developed a theoretical model to formulate the kinetics of the concurrent liquid metastable and metastable stable transitions. This model is well-supported by our observations. We found that when the ratio of the metastable stable transition rate to the liquid metastable rate is very large; the metastable state can become undetectable, although it still exists, offering a possible explanation for very few exceptions to Ostwald's step rule.

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11302226, 11172302, and 11032011).

Zhou HW,Qin, Yanming,Xu SH,et al. Crystallization Kinetics of Concurrent Liquid-Metastable and Metastable-Stable Transitions, and Ostwald's Step Rule[J]. LANGMUIR,2015,31(26):7204-7209.