Nucleation kinetics in deionized charged colloidal suspension

► A systematic experimental study on the nucleation, crystallization and crystal-growth of one-component charged colloidal particles. ► Crystallization starts with the formation of compressed structurally heterogeneous precursor domains. ► The heterogeneous nucleation at the cell walls starts simultaneously with the homogeneous bulk nucleation and the rate density of the heterogeneous nucleation is slightly higher. ► The overall crystallization consists of at least a two-step nucleation process involving formation of early stage nuclei or crystal precursor followed by the main crystallization.