Silver Phosphate Crystal Growth by Screw Dislocation Driven of Dynamic-Template

Abstract

An interesting route was developed for symmetrical structures of the silver phosphate (Ag 3 PO 4 ) crystal with gyro shape. The Ag 3 PO 4 crystal belongs to the cubic crystal system and revealed a screw dislocation in the {100} facets with helical growth along the epitaxial spin axis. In this reaction system, the acrylamide (AM) polymer monomer was used as a cooperation reagent. The Ag 3 PO 4 crystal exhibits photooxidative capabilities for the polymerization to form polyacrylamide (PAM) under visible-light irradiation, and the energy released during this polymerization overcomes the surface energy required for creating screw dislocation forming hexagonal spin axes in three dimensions spontaneously. The investigated mechanism confirmed the driven role of dynamic-template, and the explored Ag 3 PO 4 crystal control method could be used to synthesize other inorganic crystals.