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Habit Modifications of SnO 2 Crystals in SnO 2 –Cu 2 O Flux System in the Presence of Trivalent Impurity Cations
Author(s) -
Kawamura Fumio,
Yasui Itaru,
Kamei Masayuki,
Sunagawa Ichiro
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1151-2916.2001.tb00839.x
Subject(s) - acicular , impurity , nucleation , electron microprobe , crystallography , whisker , crystal (programming language) , materials science , flux (metallurgy) , analytical chemistry (journal) , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , mineralogy , metallurgy , microstructure , organic chemistry , chromatography , computer science , programming language
SnO 2 single crystals have short prismatic habits bounded by well‐developed {110} and {111} faces in a pure SnO 2 –Cu 2 O flux system. When trivalent cations are added to the system, the habits drastically change to needle, acicular, or whisker forms with large aspect ratios. The addition of trivalent cations also greatly increases the nucleation rate and drastically decreases the crystal size. SEM observations and EPMA investigations reveal that the flat {111} faces transform to rounded or rough { hkl } faces by the addition of trivalent cations. This roughening transition of {111} faces, keeping {110} faces unchanged, is the cause of drastic habit modification that is attributed to the breaking of the periodic bond chain in {111} faces by impurity cations.