Nucleation, growth and characterization of semiorganic nonlinear optical crystal sodium acetate doped l-tyrosine

•Nucleation kinetics of sodium acetate doped l-tyrosine was studied to optimize the growth conditions.•FTIR, UV and NMR spectra of grown crystal were recorded and analyzed.•Morphology and microstructure of the grown crystal were analyzed.•SHG efficiency of sodium acetate doped l-tyrosine was found to be nearly same – as that of KDP.

Sodium acetate doped l-tyrosine single crystal with dimensions 47 × 15 × 8 mm3 was grown by slow evaporation solution growth technique. Nucleation kinetics of the growth of the material was studied to optimize the growth conditions. The grown doped crystal was then characterized using single crystal XRD, UV–vis–NIR, FTIR, NMR, SEM–EDAX and NLO studies. XRD study reveals that the grown crystal belongs to monoclinic system with space group P21. Lattice parameters of the grown crystals are found to be a = 5.096 Å, b = 8.966 Å, c = 11.088 Å, α = β = 90° and γ = 92.035°. The transparent range of the grown crystal was measured as 260–1100 nm with 260 nm as lower cut off wavelength using UV–vis–NIR absorption spectrum and the optical band gap was evaluated as 3.24 eV from the Tauc’s plot. The various functional groups were identified using FTIR spectral analysis. The thermal behavior of the title compound has been analyzed using TGA/DTA and DSC thermal curves. From the thermal study, the material is found to possess thermal stability up to 158 °C. The microstructure of the grown crystal and the presence of various elements in the crystal were analyzed using SEM and EDAX techniques. NMR spectral analysis confirms the molecular structure of the grown compound. The nonlinear optical property was tested using Kurtz Perry powder technique and SHG efficiency was measured nearly same as that of KDP.

Graphical abstract1H NMR spectrum of grown crystal.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide