THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF IRON(III) PHOSPHATE ON POLYMERIC SUBSTRATES

Polyvinyl chloride polymer beads were found to be suitable for the overgrowth of iron(III) phosphate. Kinetics analysis showed that the apparent order of the crystal growth reaction is 2.0, suggesting a surface diffusion controlled mechanism. Analysis of the initial rates of reaction as a function of the solution supersaturation, according to the classical nucleation theory, yielded a value of 79 ± 6 mJ m-2 for the surface energy of the growing phase and an amount of three ions in the ion cluster forming the critical nucleus. The induction times were inversely proportional with respect to the solution supersaturation while the rates of the concomitant crystal growth increased with supersaturation. © 1991 Academic Press, Inc. All rights reserved.