Growth and Structural Characterization of Gadolinium Neodymium Oxalate Crystals Grown in Hydro-Silica Gel

Ignatius Korah, Cyriac Joseph, M.A. Ittyachen

Department of Physics, St. Georges College, Aruvithura, Kerala, India - 686122.
School of Pure and Applied Physics, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, India-686560.

DOI: 10.4236/jmmce.2010.912078                

Abstract

Gadolinium Neodymium Oxalate (GNO) single crystals were grown in hydrosilica gel by the diffusion of a mixture of aqueous solutions of the respective rare earth nitrates into a gel, impregnated with oxalic acid, in a test tube. Pink, transparent, hexagonal GNO crystals were obtained on optimization of growth parameters. The crystals are found to be monoclinic by the XRD analysis. The presence of water of hydration and carboxylic group in the grown crystals was confirmed by IR analysis. EDAX analysis confirmed the presence of Gd and Nd in the grown samples. The thermal decomposition behavior of the grown crystals were studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). The thermal analysis results concur with the proposed crystal structure.

Keywords

Rare earths, Oxalate Crystals, Gel growth

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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