Growth of crystals from aqueous solution is one of the ancient
methods of crystal growth. The method of crystal growth from low
temperature aqueous solutions is extremely popular in the production of many
technologically important crystals. It is the most widely used method for the
growth of single crystals, when the starting materials are unstable at high
temperatures (Pamplin 1979) and also which undergo phase transformations
below melting point (Hooper et al 1980). The growth of crystals by low
temperature solution growth involves weeks, months and sometimes years.
Though the technology of growth of crystals from solution has been well
perfected, it involves meticulous work, much patience and even a little
amount of luck. A power failure or a contaminated batch of raw material can
destroy months of work.
Materials having moderate to high solubility in temperature range,
ambient to 100 °C at atmospheric pressure can be grown by low-temperature
solution method (James and Kell 1975). The mechanism of crystallization
from solutions is governed, in addition to other factors, by the interaction of
ions or molecules of the solute and the solvent which is based on the
solubility of substance on the thermodynamical parameters of the process;
temperature, pressure and solvent concentration (Chernov 1984). The
advantages of crystal growth from low temperature solution nearer the
ambient temperature results in the simple and straight forward equipment
design which gives a good degree of control of accuracy of ±0.01 ºC. Due to
the precise temperature control, supersaturation can be very accurately
controlled. Also efficient stirring of solutions reduces fluctuations to a
minimum. The low temperature solution growth technique is well suited to
those materials which suffer from decomposition in the melt or in the solid at
high temperatures and which undergo structural transformations while cooling