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Understanding the growth mechanism of CuI crystals during gel growth experiments
Author(s) -
Gao Pan,
Gu Mu,
LinLiu Xiao
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
crystal research and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.377
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1521-4079
pISSN - 0232-1300
DOI - 10.1002/crat.200711120
Subject(s) - nucleation , supersaturation , crystallite , crystal (programming language) , tetrahedron , crystallography , crystal growth , optical microscope , materials science , dendrite (mathematics) , diffusion , growth rate , chemistry , iodide , scanning electron microscope , inorganic chemistry , thermodynamics , composite material , geometry , organic chemistry , mathematics , physics , computer science , programming language
Cuprous iodide crystals have been grown with decomplexation method in silica gel. Various crystal morphologies, such as polycrystalline aggregate, skeletal, dendrite, hopper crystals and regular tetrahedron crystals, were observed in different growth regions with an optical microscope. Their surfaces were photographed using a binocular metallographic microscope and the results were explained with the crystal growth mechanism which was determined by supersaturation. These observations support the general hypothesis that the concentration of reactant affects the relative growth rate by controlling the nucleation and diffusion. The mutual influence of the crystals grown in different regions was also discussed. Additionally, the suitable condition for getting regular tetrahedron crystals or large hopper crystals was obtained by changing the concentration of CuI·HI complex in the later period of crystal growth. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)