Size has many implications in crystalline materials. Small crystals grow by different pathways than big crystals. The crystal growth pathway that may predominate under some conditions has been described as "oriented attachment" or "oriented aggregation". In this pathway, crystals no more than a few nanometers in diameter aggregate and rotate so that adjacent surfaces share the same crystallographic orientation. The pair of adjacent interfaces are eliminated and the pair of nanoparticles are converted to a larger single crystal.

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