image ions direct the one-dimensional growth of 5Mg(OH)2 · MgSO4 · 2H2O Original Research Article

One-dimensional (1D) 5Mg(OH)2 · MgSO4 · 2H2O (512MHSH) materials directed by image ions in aqueous solution were synthesized on a large scale. Our designed experiments show that the concentration of image ions, pH and temperature allow us to explain quite well the growth dynamics. The ideal morphology of 512MHSH crystals was predicted from the chemical bond viewpoint. Crystallographically, image ions aligned along the b-axis of 512MHSH crystals play a bridge role to link two adjacent image fragments, and thus direct 512MHSH to preferentially form 1D structures. Both theoretical and experimental results showed that image ions directed the 1D growth of 512MHSH during the transformation from irregular Mg(OH)2 particles to 1D 512MHSH structures. The current work greatly extends practical applications of Mg(OH)2 due to low agglomeration.