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Maryam Afzali Presents at Bragg Centre PhD Colloquium 2023

Date

Maryam Afzali presenting in front of a projector screen

Maryam Afzali presented her work on the Impact of Sample Preparation on CaCO3 Crystallization Process using EM at the Bragg Centre PhD Colloquium on 6 June 2023.

Maryam’s talk was about how sample preparation significantly affects the formation of calcium carbonate as a function of time. She also discussed how Cryo-TEM is the best technique that can be used to study the early stages of crystallization. This is because Cryo-TEM allows for observation of the sample in its native frozen state.

Cryo- EM images of 4.5 mM CaCO3 indicating (A) the presence of ACC particles as well as dense region of higher contrast after 5 minutes of crystallisation reaction. Inset: selected area electron diffraction confirming the amorphous nature of the particles. (B) Showing increased population of ACC particles together with emergence of calcite after 40 minutes of reaction. Inset: SAED confirming the presence of calcite.

Figure: Cryo-EM images of 4.5 mM CaCO3 indicating (A) the presence of ACC particles as well as dense region of higher contrast after 5 minutes of crystallisation reaction. Inset: selected area electron diffraction confirming the amorphous nature of the particles. (B) Showing increased population of ACC particles together with emergence of calcite after 40 minutes of reaction. Inset: SAED confirming the presence of calcite.