Growth and study of some gel grown group II single crystals of iodate

Single crystals of calcium iodate and barium iodate were grown by simple gel technique by single diffusion method. The optimum conditions were established by varying various parameters such as pH of gel solution, gel concentration, gel setting time, concentration of the reactants etc. Crystals having different morphologies and habits were obtained. Prismatic, dendritic crystals of barium iodate and prismatic, needle shaped, hopper crystals of calcium iodate were obtained. Some of them were transparent, some transluscent, and few others were opaque. Both the crystals were studied using XRD, FT-IR, and thermal analysis. The crystals were doped by iron impurity. The effect of doping was studied using IR spectroscopy and thermal analysis.