Prismatic faces of KDP crystal, kinetic and mechanism of growth from solutions

Growth kinetic of (1 0 0) typefaces of KDP crystals in impure solutions were measured and analyzed. The dual action of impurities as promoters of nucleation at higher supersaturations and as stopper of the spreading layer on the crystal surface at smaller supersaturations is underlined. 2D heterogeneous nucleation mechanism was found to be dominant at higher supersaturations, where the surface coverage of ad-molecules θ∼10−6 is of the same order...