Pure samples of colorless, air-stable Ba(BO2OH) crystals were obtained from Ba(NO3)2 and H3BO3 under the ultra-alkaline conditions of a KOH hydroflux at about 250 °C. The product formation depends on the water-base molar ratio and the molar ratio of the starting materials. B(OH)3 acts as a proton donor (Brønsted acid) rather than a hydroxide acceptor (Lewis acid). Ba(BO2OH) crystallizes in the non-centrosymmetric orthorhombic space group P212121. Hydrogen bonds connect the almost planar (BO2OH)2− anions, which are isostructural to HCO3−, into a syndiotactic chain. IR and Raman spectroscopy confirm the presence of hydroxide groups, which are involved in weak hydrogen bonds. Upon heating in air to about 450 °C, Ba(BO2OH) dehydrates to Ba2B2O5. Moreover, the non-centrosymmetric structure of Ba(BO2OH) crystals was verified with power-dependent confocal Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) microscopy indicating large conversion efficiencies in ambient atmosphere.

Frequent systematic misindexing of electron backscatter diffraction patterns with five differently oriented pseudosymmetric solutions was observed for the cubic α-Al(Fe,M)Si phase with M = Mn, Cr encountered in secondary Al-Si casting alloy. That misindexing can be ascribed to the close structural relationship of the cubic crystal structure of α-Al(Fe,M)Si to that of the corresponding icosahedral quasicrystal. Robust identification of the correct among the five nearby solutions during automatic indexing can be achieved, which sensitively depends on the accuracy of Kikuchi-band detection applying Hough-space related indexing methods. Based on the correct crystallographic orientation solution, facets of the particles with bulk polyhedral and Chinese script morphology were determined to be {110} planes. Likewise, the habit planes of the α-Al(Fe,M)Si phase particles located at the naturally occurring oxide film are {110} planes.