Growth mechanism of large-size anthracene single crystals grown by a solution technique

Large-size and high-quality anthracene single crystals have been grown by a solution technique. The size of crystals reaches 2.2 cm and the crystals with rhombic plane have been obtained for the first time. FTIR and Raman analysis indicate that the crystals did not incorporate the solvent at the detection level. XRD analysis indicates that the anthracene single crystals have good quality. The morphology of surface and transect of anthracene single crystals was observed by optical microscope, atomic force microscope (AFM), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Anthracene monolayers and the array of large straight steps were observed on the surface of anthracene single crystals. Layer-like structure was also observed in the interior of single crystals. All results indicate that the growth mechanism of anthracene single crystals is a two-dimensional nucleation—elementary steps—large straight steps—layer-by-layer periods growth.