Growth and characterisation of EDTA-added TGS crystals

Triglycine sulfate (TGS) crystal with I wt% of EDTA (ETGS) addition was grown from aqueous solution by slow-cooling technique. The addition of EDTA enhanced the metastable zone width of TGS solution and, thereby, increased the growth rate of TGS crystal. The powder X-ray diffraction analysis showed a slight change in the cell parameter values of ETGS crystal. The presence of various functional groups in the grown crystal is identified from FTIR analysis. Optical transmission studies on ETGS crystal showed a lower UV cut-off of 237 nm and the transmission percentage of 95%. The dielectric studies were carried out to identify the phase transition temperature and to find the dielectric constant. The pyroelectric co-efficient was calculated, which increased slightly with EDTA addition in TGS. Piezoelectric studies were also done on the grown crystals. Microhardness studies carried out using Leitz-Weitzler hardness tester showed that the ETGS crystal was softer than pure TGS crystal. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.