Surface features and morphology of electrolytically gel-grown silver crystals

The surface microstructures of (111) and (100) faces and the morphology of silver crystals grown by a new electrolytic method in gel were observed under metallurgical and optical microscopes. A variety of surface features including growth spirals on the surface of as-grown silver single crystals of different morphologies developed on the tertiary three-dimensional (T3D) dendrites have been investigated. The stage-by-stage growth of silver dendrites and crystals represents conceptually a suitable and simple example of self-organization found in the growth of crystals.