High-intensity nanosecond Nd:YAG laser pulses were used to induce crystallization in saturated solutions of the nitrate salts; sodium nitrate (NaNO3), potassium nitrate (KNO3) and calcium nitrate [Ca(NO3)2] to produce small micro-meter in size crystals. The crystallization of nitrate salts has been specifically chosen to study as these salts have tremendous applications over a wide spectrum of industries such as food, agriculture, dyes, and solar cells production. The induced crystallization in the nitrate salts solutions was mainly triggered by shock waves produced in the solution by directly focusing the laser pulses of 80 mJ pulse energy and 532 nm wavelength into nitrate salts solutions for a period of time ranging from 1 to 15 minutes. The yielded small crystals were characterized using different techniques, namely; x-ray diffraction (XRD), polarized light microscopy (PLM) as well as scanning electron microscope (SEM). A comparison has been drawn between crystals formed conventionally without photochemical intervention versus crystals formed by laser-induced shock wave crystallization mechanism. Finally, the grown crystals size and size distribution were related to laser irradiation time and energy in the three solutions.
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