Study of crystalline perfection and thermal analysis of zinc cadmium thiocyanate single crystals grown in silica gel

Zinc cadmium thiocyanate ZnCd(SCN)4 abbreviated as ZCTC is a bimetallic thiocyanate complex that exhibits excellent nonlinear optical property. Single crystals of ZCTC have been grown in silica gel by the process of diffusion. Colorless transparent crystals of size 12 mm x 2 mm x 1.3 mm have been obtained. High resolution X-ray diffraction study was carried out to investigate the crystalline perfection of the grown crystal and the quality of the crystal was found to be quite good. Thermal stability of the grown crystal was investigated by thermogravimetric and differential thermal analyses. Fourier Transform Infrared spectrum was recorded to confirm the functional groups. Microhardness of the crystal is also studied. Being a nonlinear optical material, a comparative study of its second harmonic generation efficiency with urea has been made. (copyright 2007 WILEY -VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)