| Summary: | Precipitates of a series of alkaline earth metal (barium and strontium) carbonates, chromates, phosphates, and sulfates were formed at high supersaturation by diffusion through silica hydrogel, agarose hydrogel, and the freshly developed agarosesilica mixed gels. The reaction vessels could be a small test tube, a recently designed standard micro slide cassette and a enlarged supercassette. Homogeneous nucleation is thought to have taken place, and particle development led to the formation of an unusual category of materials, known as Induced Morphology Crystal Aggregates [IMCA], at high pH under far-from-equilibrium conditions. Standard procedures were developed in order to produce homogeneous gels. Particle development led to characteristic style of pattern formation, which I have called monster, spiral, and flake. Among these IMCA, barium carbonate, chromate, and sulfate were moderately easy to grow. Barium phosphate was very difficult to grow as IMCA due to formation of poorly crystalline spherulites. IMCA of strontium carbonate, chromate and sulfate could be developed at high basic pH in the presence of silicate. Strontium carbonate sheet morphology displays a unique property, double internal layer structure, which was identified by backscattering electron imaging (BEI). Selected electron diffraction (SAD) revealed a new crystal phase which was called "Dentonite". Precipitate particles were isolated using a non-destructive isolation technique. Optical microscopy was widely used to examine particles in situ and scanning electron microscopy and X-ray dispersive energy (EDX) spectroscopy were applied to particles ex situ, together with ESCA for surface analysis. Growth patterns were found to be strongly dependent on pH. Other related pattern formation processes were also investigated including normal and dendritic structures, spherulitic structures and periodic pattern formation. Some interpretations were proposed in terms of mechanism. Chemical additive effects were examined experimentally in the calcium phosphate system. The effect of external ionic strength was investigated, and it was found that a certain concentration of sodium chloride (0.2 M) approximately equals a fraction of pH unit (-0.2).
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