The purpose of a mineralizer is to facilitate the transport of insoluble “nutrient” to a seed crystal by means of a reversible chemical reaction. Over time, the seed crystal accumulates the material that was once in the nutrient and grows. Mineralizers are additives that aid the solubilization of the nutrient solid. When used in small quantities, mineralizers function as catalysts. Typically, a more stable solid is crystallized from a solution that consists of a less stable solid and a solvent. The process is done by dissolution-precipitation or crystallization process.
Hydrothermal growth involves the crystallization of a dissolved solid at elevated temperatures. Often high pressures are involved. Historically, the goal of hydrothermal growth was to grow large crystals. Due to the recent developments in nanotechnology, small nanocrystals are now desired and made by hydrothermal growth with crystal size controlled by mineralizers. Different mineralizers result in crystals of different sizes and shapes. Typical mineralizers are hydroxides (NaOH, KOH, LiOH), carbonates (NaCO) and halides (NaF, KF, LiF, NaCl, KCl, LiCl).