Topochemistry is a branch of chemistry that studies solid-state reactions that occur locally in certain areas of a solid body. The solid phase of the product is also localized there.
Typical applications of topochemistry are: rock leaching , metal recovery from ores , calcination , some stages of the photographic process , chemical etching .
The greatest achievement of modern topochemistry as a science is participation in the development of epitaxy technologies.
This is the name of the phenomenon of oriented growth of one crystal on the surface of another ( substrate ). There are heteroepitaxy when the substances of the substrate and the growing crystal are different, and homoepitaxy (auto-epitaxy) when they are the same. Oriented crystal growth within the volume of another is called endotaxia. Endotaxy is observed, for example, during crystallization, corrosion .
Literature
- Sold to A. A. Inorganic Topochemistry. Minsk: Science and Technology, 1986. 240 p.
- Lifshits V.G. Surface phases and the growth of microelectronic structures on silicon // Soros Educational Journal. −1997. - No. 2. - S. 107-114.