Growth of cerium(III)-doped ADP crystals and characterization studies

Abstract

Single crystals of Ce(III)-doped ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (ADP) are grown by conventional slow evaporation of aqueous solution and Sankaranarayanan–Ramasamy (SR) technique. High-resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) studies reveal that the crystalline perfection is substantially better in the case of SR-grown crystal. Morphological changes are observed in the doped specimen. Doping has some influence on the DRS spectra and the band gap energy is estimated by Kubelka–Munk algorithm. Lattice parameters are determined by single crystal XRD analysis. The powder X-ray diffraction and FT-IR analyses indicate that the crystal undergoes considerable stress as a result of doping. The incorporation of Ce(III) into the crystalline matrix of ADP is confirmed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Thermal studies reveal no decomposition up to the melting point and no significant changes are observed as a result of foreign ion incorporation in ADP crystalline matrix.