Observation of a liquid phase with an orthorhombic orientational order.

Using surface x-ray diffraction, we have determined the structure of liquid Bi monolayers on Cu(111) for a range of coverages. By combining diffuse scattering data from the liquid with information from the substrate scattering, the ordering properties of Bi have been fully determined. Even though the substrate is hexagonal, we find that the liquid does not show hexatic order but has an orthorhombic orientational order that occurs in three domains. Simultaneously, Bi has partial solidlike properties, even well above its melting point.

Experimental and computational growth morphology of two polymorphs of a yellow isoxazolone dye.

We report on the crystal structures and the experimentally found and the computationally predicted growth morphologies of two polymorphs of a yellow isoxazolone dye. The stable polymorph I has a blocklike habit, and the metastable polymorph II grows as fine needles, nucleating only by heterogeneous or contact nucleation. The habits of both polymorphs depend on the supersaturation during growth. The experimental observations are compared with predictions of the attachment energy model and kinetic Monte Carlo lattice simulations in which the growth is modeled as an "atomistic process", governed by surface energetics. These Monte Carlo simulations correctly predict the shape and the dependence on supersaturation of the crystal morphology for both polymorphs: for polymorph I, a strong dependence on supersaturation is found from the simulations. For polymorph II, the order of morphological importance is reproduced correctly, as well as the needlelike morphology.