1 research outputs found
Growth aspects of barium oxalate monohydrate single crystals in gel medium
Single crystals of barium oxalate monohydrate (BaC2O4.H2O, BOM) were grown in pure form by controlled
diffusion of Ba2+ using the gel technique at different temperatures. Starting from aqueous Ba2+ chloride
(BaCl2) and acetic acid (C2H2O4) in gel, this method offers a low-cost and an easiest alternative to other
preparation methods for the production of barium oxalate bulky single crystals. The optimal conditions for the
growth of BOM crystals in silica gel were found by investigating different growth parameters such as gel pH,
gel aging and crystallization temperature. Irrespective of all such crystallization environments, growth rate of
the crystals were initially less and then exhibited supersaturation effect leading to non-linearity. Gel aging and
temperature has profound effect on nucleation density that resulted less number of crystals of maximum size
in the gel matrix. Perfect single crystals were grown on gels of higher pH. The macropore morphology and
porosity was controlled by changing age of the gel. It has been found that temperature has a fabulous effect in
controlling the nucleation density by altering the supersaturation conditions for the formation of critical
nuclei. The entire growth kinetics informed that the grown crystals were derived by the one dimensional
diffusion controlled process