Growth, spectroscopic investigation, optical, mechanical, chemical etching and nonlinear optical studies of semi-organic crystal: Bis (thiourea) zinc formate

Single crystals of Bis (thiourea) zinc formate (BTZF) were grown by slow evaporation method at room temperature. The grown crystal was confirmed by single crystal XRD, 1H NMR and Mass spectroscopic techniques. Single crystal XRD technique revealed that material crystallized in monoclinic system with cell parameters a = 8.693 Å, b = 7.151 Å and c = 9.311 Å. The presence of hydrogen atoms in the grown sample was confirmed by proton NMR analysis. The mass spectral analysis was carried out to measure the accurate molecular mass of the compound. The recorded UV–Vis–NIR transmittance spectrum show excellent transmission in the range of 200–1100 nm. Measuring transmittance of BTZF permitted the calculation of the extinction coefficient K, Reflectance R, as functions of photon energy. The etching study indicates the occurrence of different types of etch pit patterns on the growth surface. The Vickers (Hv) microhardness were carried out in the load range of 10–50 g. Optical nonlinearities of BTZF have been investigated by Z-scan technique with He–Ne laser radiation of wavelength 638 nm.

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► Spectral studies for novel BTZF crystal reported first time in literature.
► Crystal shows good transmittance from 300 to 1100 nm.
► Vickers hardness studies show material posses good mechanical strength.
► From Z-scan studies, it is revealed that BTZF exhibits excellent third order nonlinearity.