2021/04/30 by Y. Maximilian Klein, Mirosław Kozłowski, Anthony Linden +5 · 39 citations
Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Antiferromagnetism #Bar (unit) #Chemical physics #Chemistry #Condensed matter physics #Crystallite #Crystallography #Electron #Electronic and Structural Properties of Oxides #Ion #Lanthanide #Magnetic and transport properties of perovskites and related materials #Materials science #Nanotechnology #Physics #Transition metal #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · doi:10.1021/acs.cgd.1c00474
published in Crystal Growth & Design 21(7), 4230-4241 (American Chemical Society) · 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted by Crystal Growth & Design. The SI is available at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.cgd.1c00474
openalex created_date 2021/04/26 · arxiv created 2021/06/07 · arxiv updated 2021/06/08 · openalex publication_date 2021/06/11 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
The electronic properties of transition-metal oxides with highly correlated electrons are of central importance in modern condensed-matter physics and chemistry, both for their fundamental scientific interest and for their potential for advanced electronic applications. However, the design of materials with tailored properties has been restricted by the limited understanding of their structure–property relationships, which are particularly complex in the proximity of the regime where localized electrons become gradually mobile. RENiO 3 perovskites, characterized by the presence of spontaneous metal to insulator transitions, are some of the most widely used model materials for the investigation of this region in theoretical studies. However, crucial experimental information needed to validate theoretical predictions is still lacking due to their challenging high-pressure synthesis, which has prevented to date the growth of sizable bulk single crystals with RE ≠ La, Pr, and Nd. Here we report the first successful growth of single crystals with RE = Nd, Sm, Gd, Dy, Y, Ho, Er, and Lu in sizes up to ∼75 μm, grown from molten salts in a temperature gradient under 2000 bar of oxygen gas pressure. The crystals display regular prismatic shapes with flat facets, and their crystal structures and metal–insulator and antiferromagnetic order transition temperatures are in excellent agreement with previously reported values obtained from polycrystalline samples. The availability of such crystals opens access to measurements that have hitherto been impossible to conduct. This should contribute to a better understanding of the fascinating properties of materials with highly correlated electrons and guide future efforts to engineer transition-metal oxides with tailored functional properties.