# Large Silver Crystals



## jaun (Aug 13, 2013)

Hi everyone , long time no see. 8) 

I want to grow big silver crystals in the cell. After reading my eyes square, I come to the conclusion that it’s not that easy, too many variables.

As I understand it, the lower the Amps the beter, and the Voltage between 0V and 3V. I know it will take a very long time, but I’m not interested to produce 99.999 silver for refining purposes (I get spot for my 98-99% sement silver), so I just want to produce a few big crystals a month.

I know there’s no easy answer, I’m gonna have to experiment I guess. But a few ideas would be welcome from those who have years experience. 
Here's my ideas so far:

1. Low V and A (long time)
2. Very small cathode aria
3. Concentrated silver nitrate/or not
4. Maybe spooning out the very small crystals and putting them back in the basket, allowing only the big ones to grow?
5. And the cheaper lab power sup 0-15V and 0-3A, as I won’t need more than 3A.


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## niteliteone (Aug 13, 2013)

Good luck with your project.
I have found that for my Silver cell, I grew the largest crystals when I was working with Rhodium Plated Silver jewelry.
As far as I can determine, it is the contamination in the electrolyte that has the most affect on the crystal size after Voltage, which should be as low as possible to allow current to flow in the cell.

I just wish I had more Rhodium plated silver to verify my results.


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## MysticColby (Aug 13, 2013)

From what has happened to me, large crystals are more luck than skill. definitely, low Amps is more likely to produce them. But more often, the biggest ones are found in the same batch as lots of normal-sized ones.
Some interesting ideas I've seen in the past:
- reverse the polarity of the cell part of the time. This would require special equipment, but the idea is that the smaller crystals will re-dissolve during this part, then the larger crystals get added to during regular operation. Something like 10 seconds normal, 1 second opposite, 10 seconds normal, 1 second opposite.
- small small cathode area, like needlepoint small. maybe use the tip of some silver wire? or the tip of a silver crystal from the last batch.
- I have no idea if high or low concentration electrolyte solution is better.
- A small amount of tartaric acid (like 1g/L) is supposed to help, though I've never tried it


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## kadriver (Aug 15, 2013)

I have grown some very large crystals (about 1/2 ozt) in a glass silver cell.

I used a 1 liter beaker with the electrolyte concentration at 100 grams of silver dissolved in 1 liter of liquid.

Back then I was using a graphite cathode about 1.5 inches square and about 1/2 inch tall (I ordered then from lazersteve's web site).

I was using a converted PC power supply using the 3.3v DC output.

The crystals were large and had some flat mirror facets.

I may set up a 1 liter glass cell with graphite cathode again just to grow these magnificent looking crystals.

kadriver


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