Preparation and morphology of single crystals of some alkali precious metal halides grown from solution and in a gel

Abstract

Single crystals of Rb 2PdCl 4, Rb 2PtCl 4, Cs 2PdCl 4 and Cs 2PtCl 4 · 1H 2O were grown by a gel method, because these crystals could not be grown from solution due to the high nucleation rate. However, starting from gel grown seed crystals, larger crystals of Rb 2PdCl 4 could be obtained from solution. Single crystals of K 2PdCl 4 and K 2PtCl 4 were developed from solution and by the gel growth method. K 2PdBr 4 and K 2PdBr 4 · 2H 2O crystals were grown from solution at two different temperatures. The unit cell dimensions of the compounds except of K 2PdCl 4 and K 2PtCl 4 and the morphology of the crystals were determined.