Understanding the growth mechanism of CuI crystals during gel growth experiments

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)