Following the addition of 20 mL Na-PAA, it is unclear what drives the formation of new hexagonal lumps (HL) with some truncated and larger in dimension among the HR. What might have happened is, from the instant of mixing Na-PAA in water, the dissociated Na + cations may end up competing with the Al 3+ species to form bonds with the linker, causing deceleration in the crystal growth and altering the original template. Another factor that may have undermined Na-PAA's influence is due to its low molecular weight (~2100 g/mol). By substituting higher molecular weight PAA for the synthesis, its influence toward crystal elongation may be amplified. PXRD. As shown in Figure , the PXRD patterns of every sample are slightly different compared to the simulated MIL-96 spectra. The peaks have also been shifted slightly to higher angle. The drift may be attributed to the presence of free TMA inside the pores of the samples. The aforementioned series of crystal shape changes can be defined using the Bravais, Frisdel, Donnay and Harker (BFDH) theory which describes the three main planes that make up the morphology of MIL-96; they are (002), (100) and (101) at 2𝜃 = 5.7°, 7.1° and 7.7° respectively. Except for the subtly present (002), other key characteristic peaks including (102), match well with the simulated spectra, indicating the core crystalline structure is retained. Although by visual inspection, MIL-110 was mainly present at higher HPAM loading as evident by the HR formation, due to instrument limitation (minimum 2𝜃 ≥ 5°), the characteristic XRD peaks of MIL-100 (2𝜃 = 4°) and MIL-110 ((001) facet; 2𝜃 = 5°) cannot be clearly detected and thus, have to be omitted from subsequent discussion. With higher concentration of HPAM, the emerging (100) facet indicates it could enhance the growth rate of the (100), resulting in narrowed edge and the lengthening of the crystals.