Growing high-quality crystals with ideal properties is of great importance. The morphology of crystal is one key factor reflecting product quality, as it can affect the performance of products and downstream operations. In this work, the current state of crystal morphology modification is reviewed from different perspectives. First, the most widely used crystal growth models are discussed. Then, a variety of crystal morphology control methods, which include adjustment of crystallization operation parameters, addition of foreign molecules, change of different solvents, membrane assistance, the addition of external physical fields and the use of ball milling are summarized. As for applications, the control of crystal morphology has application potential in pharmaceutical and material fields, for example, energetic materials and semiconductor materials. Finally, the future development direction of crystal morphology regulation is discussed.

To obtain crystal products with ideal morphology and better quality, it is important to fully understand and grasp the affecting mechanism of solvents on crystal morphology. In this work, the interactions between solvent/solute molecules and different crystal faces of pyriproxyfen are investigated by a combination of experiments and molecular simulations. It is found that pyriproxyfen crystals grow into a lamellar morphology in methanol and ethanol, while the crystal grows into a three-dimensional shuttle morphology in n-butanol and n-heptane. Molecular simulations reveal that the molecular arrangement of crystal faces makes the alcohol hydroxyl adsorption sites exposed in different degrees, and the (002) face is more sensitive to alcohol hydroxyl than other faces. The adsorption of alcohol hydroxyl groups hinders the growth of crystal planes, so (002) and (102) faces become the main crystal planes in methanol and ethanol, and the lamellar crystal is formed. The developed knowledge of the growth mechanism based on the interaction between the solvent and crystal interface can be conducive to the further optimization of the pyriproxyfen crystal products.