Growth, structural, dielectric, ferroelectric, and mechanical properties of l-prolinium tartrate single crystal

Abstract

Organic ferroelectric l-prolinium tartrate (LPT) single crystals have been successfully grown by slow evaporation solution technique. The as-grown LPT crystal has been analyzed by CHN analysis to find the elemental compositions. Single-crystal XRD reveals the monoclinic lattice with non-centrosymmetric space group (P21) as well as cell parameters (a = 5.0071(3) A, b = 17.7056(13) A, c = 6.5371(4) A, β = 100.525(6) °C, and V = 569.79(6) A3). The Hirshfeld surface analysis was carried out to understand various intermolecular interactions in the grown crystal. From temperature-dependent dielectric measurement, a ferroelectric to paraelectric phase transition was observed at 45 °C and a very low (0.05) dielectric loss for higher frequencies (2 MHz) was observed. The FTIR spectroscopy has been carried out in order to identify the different functional groups present in the grown crystal. In ferroelectric studies, P–E hysteresis loops were traced at different temperatures. A high value of piezoelectric charge coefficient (d 33 = 17 pC/N) was found. Vickers hardness test has been used to determine the mechanical strength of the grown crystals and the value of Meyer’s index was found to be n = 1.79 which suggested soft nature of crystals.