Heterogeneous nucleation and microstructure formation in colloidal model systems with various interactions

Recent studies of crystal nucleation and further microstructure formation in colloidal model systems are reviewed. Homogeneous as well as different heterogeneous nucleation scenarios will be discussed. We focus on the crystallization process of one component colloidal model systems with hard sphere like interaction, long range electrostatic interaction and depletion force induced attractive interaction. Heterogeneous crystallization on flat and smooth substrates, on structured substrates, induced by different kind of seed particles as well as inoculation adding a larger amount of seeds will be presented.