Single crystal Tl0.3MoO3 growth by electrolytic reduction method of a Tl2CO3-MoO3 melts

Single crystals of quasi-one-dimensional charge-density-wave conductor blue bronze Tl0.3MoO3 have been grown by electrolytic reduction method using the raw materials Tl2CO3-MoO3 with composition around 1:4.3 mol ration. The electrolytic temperature was about 570 °C, and electrolytic current was 25 mA during the electrolytic process. By this method, the Tl0.3MoO3 single crystals obtained have a relatively large average size and high quality. Platelet crystals with typical dimensions of 7×2×1 mm3 were obtained. The crystal structure is monoclinic with space group C2/m. The parameters of the unit cell of the single crystal are as follows: a=18.486(6) Å, b=7.555(2) Å, c=10.032(3) Å and β=118.38(3)°. The C-center symmetry of Tl0.3MoO3 crystal is demonstrated by the selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns in the transmission electron microscope (TEM). The full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the rocking curve of the (201¯) Bragg peak of the Tl0.3MoO3 was approximately 0.4°. These are evidences that the single crystal is of high quality. The temperature dependence of the resistivity shows that a metal-semiconductor transition occurs near 181 K.