Growth, structural, optical, thermal and mechanical properties of glycine zinc chloride single crystal

The nonlinear optical single crystals of glycine zinc chloride were grown by the slow cooling method from aqueous solution. The title compound was synthesized and purified by repeated recrystallization process. Grown crystals were characterized by X-ray diffraction, FT-IR and FT-Raman spectral analysis. The range and percentage of optical transmission were ascertained by recording UV–Vis–NIR spectrum. Thermal properties were investigated by DTA and TGA analyses. Its second harmonic generation relative efficiency was measured by Kurtz and Perry powder technique using Nd:YAG laser and was observed to be 0.5 times that of potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate. Its mechanical hardness was estimated by Vickers microhardness method.