Factors affecting the Growth

process

To set the optimum conditions for

growing crystals, it is important to set
the different parameters
Introduction:
The factors influencing the growth process are
numerous and have different effects which
explains the great habit variability . They are
usually classified into two:
• Internal factors: crystal structure on which the
profiles of the face depend.
• External factors: act from outside like nature of
solvent etc.,
There are also mixed factors like free energy of
the crystal surface and edges which depends both
the factors.
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 Factors affecting Crystal growth

Physical Chemical Thermo

*Temperature *pH

*Rate of Cooling/ time

*Pressure *Effect of Solvent
*Impurity and additive
*Super Saturation *Suspended Particles
*Magnetic field *Purity of Materials

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Effect of Solvent :
The solvent used for the crystallization of an organic
compound can have a large effect on the resulting
morphology.

Eg:- cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine

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 grown from the solvent g-butyrolactone has {2 1 0} and
{1 1 1} crystal surfaces, while the {0 0 2} crystal surface
is not visible at all .

however, develop when it is crystallized from other

solvents like acetone and cyclohexanone while the RDX
crystal morphology from cyclohexanone does not
possess the {2 1 0} face.
Reference:
Journal of Crystal Growth 128 (1993) 1236-1244-
North-Holland

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Effect of temperature , pH and super saturation:

A study investigated the effects of super saturation,

temperature, and pH on tetragonal lysozyme crystals .

Reference:
Biophysical Journal Volume-77 September_1999
(1585–1593)

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 At a constant value of super saturation, crystallization at
higher temperatures was found to produce more crystals.
but also appear to increase in proportion to increases in
temperature

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The solution pH also has a notable effect upon the
number of crystals produced but also Crystal size.

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9
Supersaturation appears to have a greater effect
on crystal size at the higher pH values ,here size
appears to increase with super saturation,
whereas this trend is suppressed at the lower pH
values.

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Cooling rate :

The effect of cooling rate on the crystallization of

perovskite in high Ti-bearing blast furnace (BF)
slag was studied using confocal scanning laser
microscopy (CSLM).

Results obtained in this study indicate that the

morphology and growth of perovskite is closely
related to cooling rate.

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12
 At the cooling rate of 20K/min, crystals begin to
appear as a close orthogonal morphology.
On the other hand, at the cooling rate of 40
K/min, regular triangular shaped crystals are
formed.

Reference:
International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy
and Materials Volume 21, No.11, November
2014, Page 1052

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Magnetic field:

A magnetic field has been recognized as affecting

nucleation and crystal growth rate . It marked
effect was only found for diamagnetic salts of
weak acids , a magnetic field of 0.27T increased
their nucleation and growth rates. No effect on
paramagnetic salts were recorded.

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 Applying a strong magnetic field (10T) to a
lysozyme solution increases its viscosity and
birefringence, which suggests molecular ordering
with the formation of interconnected network
i.e.., gel phase
Notwithstanding the amount of research in this
area, the observed effects are as yet not
adequately explained and no definite theory has
been presented.
Reference:
Springer Handbook of Crystal growth

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Effect of Pressure:
Pressure efficiently changes the crystallization
preferences

A study investigated the pressure effect for the

crystallization of 4,4’bipyridine perchlorate
(44’biPyHClO4).

Reference:
Cryst. Growth Des., Just Accepted Manuscript •
DOI: 10.1021/acs.cgd.7b00085 • Publication
Date (Web): 13 Apr 2017 16
 4,4’-bipyridinium perchlorate, [C10H9N2]+ClO4-. in
the water: methanol mixture, while the methanol
solution in open vials yields concomitant
monoclinic quarter hydrate 4[C10H9N2]+ClO4- ・ H2O
and triclinic anhydrate 4[C10H9N2]+ClO4-
At 0.30 GPa an orthorhombic anhydrate is
formed, stable to 0.60 GPa, when it collapses into
a monoclinic phase.

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Effect of Impurities :

Impurities can affect all stages of the

crystallization process. The impurity molecules
are either separated or linked to each other in the
two dimensional adsorption layers which may
include solute and solvent molecules. Frequently
rapid crystal formation traps impurities within the
lattice, Slowly crystallized samples had a broader
distribution of crystal size.

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 .
Reference: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?
hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=effect+of+impurities+crystal+growth+&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=
%23p%3D_BUbd2F1A8UJ

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Suspended Particles:
The particles which are dispersed in solids or
liquids are called suspended particles. Suspended
particles in solutions significantly affects
crystallisation rate also.

Reference:
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?
hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=suspended+particles+
crystal+growth+&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p
%3DCgrwXo3YdY4J
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Purity of Materials:
Crystal purity is the parameter used to indicate the
contamination level of a crystal and represents one
of the most important properties of the crystalline
materials. Contaminants may distort the crystal
lattice affect the crystal features ,such as diffraction
quality, and change the crystal morphology in
particular when the impurities are incorporated in
the crystal at different rates into adjacent steps on
the crystal lattice.
Reference: :
https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.10
07/978-3-642-40872-4_1128-2 21
Conclusion:

At the end of this concise review it is apparent

that the crystal morphology is the complex
interaction of several factors - structural,
thermodynamic and kinetic which make difficult
and yet fascinating the study of this field.

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Any queries ?

Slides By:
Dhanachezian. S (39120003)
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Syed Ibrahim . J (39120008)