The impact of Cs3Bi2Cl9 single crystal growth modality on its symmetry and morphology

Abstract

Perovskite single crystals have the potential to design a new path in optoelectronics. Due to the toxicity and stability issue of lead halide perovskites, the substitution of lead is a challenge. Here, we have demonstrated two different single crystal growth mechanisms namely slow cooling and anti-solvent vapor diffusion method for lead-free Cs3Bi2Cl9 perovskite single crystal and exhibited how these different growth methods affect the symmetry parameters and morphology evolution of single crystal structure. The synthesis, crystal growth, and detailed structural and thermal characterization have been carried out by optical and electron microscopy, elemental mapping, single crystal X-ray diffraction, and thermogravimetric analysis. Our study shows that contrary to the conventional expectation the crystal symmetry, Patterson vector, and Sheldrick's criterion is different for the same single crystal stoichiometry with two different crystal growth methods. The calculated metric tensor in real and reciprocal space is different for two different growth mechanisms. Our study opens up a personalized design strategy for choosing a suitable single crystal fabrication route among various available strategies for specific non-linear optical or optoelectronic applications.