Epitaxial Overgrowth of LiKSO4 on β–K2SO4 Single Crystals

Nucleation of LiKSO₄ (LKS) crystals from non-equimolar solutions may occur epitaxially on the surface of previously nucleated β-K₂SO₄ (KS) crystals. Both compounds evince a profound hexagonal substructure, and have common topological features and similar coordination schemes. Moreover, they may be related by quantitative similarities between their translation parameters and by correspondence between their bond chains along the directions of epitaxy. The planes of epitaxy are (001)_KS, and (0001)_LKS' and on these planes [010]_KS is always parallel to [010]_LKS' with a misfit of 12.19%. Another pair of directions, [11 0]_KS and [100]_LKS' showing a small angular misfit (0.18°), exhibit an even lower linear misfit (3.09%).