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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
The growth of new phases out of high temperature hydroxide solutions as a means of discovering new materials is discussed. We have succeeded in solubilizing rare earth cations and platinum group metal cations in molten hydroxides and have grown single crystals with a large number of new compositions and new structure types. The use of sealed silver tubes has enabled us to control the water content and, hence, the acidity of the hydroxide melts, and thereby to grow crystals via slow cooling. The synthetic conditions and structures of several new oxides including Ln1-xNa1+xIrO4 (Ln = Gd-Er, Y; x = 0.04-0.26), Ln3RuO7 (Ln = La, Sm, Eu), LnNaPd6O8 (Ln = Tb-Lu, Y) and La9RbIr4O24 are presented.