Understanding precrystallisation of MgSO4 through total neutron scattering.

MgSO4 (and its numerous hydrates) is an important system industrially and has become a model system for fundamental crystallisation studies [4]. By studying an aqueous solution, we aim to investigate the suitability of neutron total scattering as a technique for probing the prenucleation structures and behaviour with the future aim of applying this knowledge to explain the crystallisation complexity of this system. Using the EPSR approach we would hope to model/fit the intermolecular interactions of the Mg2+ and SO42- ions with each other and the solvent water.