Nucleation kinetics, growth and characterization of guanidinium 3-nitrobenzoate single crystal

A potential organic nonlinear optical guanidinium 3-nitrobenzoate (Gu-3NB) was synthesized. Solubility of Gu-3NB was determined for various temperatures. Meta stable zone width and induction period values were determined in order to optimize the growth parameters. Nucleation parameters, such as interfacial tension, critical radius and free energy of formation of critical nucleus were evaluated. Optically good quality, bulk single crystal of Gu-3NB was successfully grown by slow evaporation method and slow cooling method with the optimized growth parameters. The etching study was performed to ascertain the growth quality of the crystal. The unit cell parameters and the morphology of Gu-3NB single crystal were determined by X-ray diffraction. The grown crystal was subjected to various characterization studies, such as optical, dielectric measurement and mechanical studies.