Inhibition of growth in solid solution–aqueous solution systems by non-incorporating impurities

Crystal growth inhibition by non-incorporating impurities has been described and quantified since 1958 by the so-called step pinning model by Cabrera and Vermilyea [1]. In the original model, as well as in its recent improvements by Weaver et al. in 2006 and 2007 [2,3], only the inhibition by the adsorption of impurities on crystal surfaces with fixed compositions is considered. However, most of the crystals found in nature are solid solutions with more or less wide chemical variability. Therefore, in order to provide more realistic models of crystal growth inhibition in natural systems, it is fundamental to study in detail the inhibition of surfaces of solid solutions by non-incorporating impurities. In this paper, the Cabrera–Vermilyea model has been generalised for the case of growth inhibition in solid solution–aqueous solution (SS–AS) systems. This generalisation was made by considering that supersaturation and the physicochemical properties of the solid solutions are functions of the solid composition. The main implication of the model is that a progressive inhibition of growth of a solid solution by increasing the concentration of an adsorbed impurity results in compositional changes on the growing surfaces.