Growth of LiCoO2 single crystals by the TSFZ method

We have grown LiCoO2 single crystals by the traveling solvent floating zone (TSFZ) growth with Li-rich solvent, having observed the incongruent melting behavior of LiCoO2 between 1100 and 1300 °C. The optimum growth conditions in terms of atmosphere and solvent composition were determined to be Ar flow and an atomic ratio Li/Co 85:15, respectively. The crystals grown using a conventional-mirror-type furnace contained periodic inclusions of a Co–O phase due to the influence of Co–O phase segregation on the stability of the molten zone during growth. By using a tilted-mirror FZ furnace, inclusion-free LiCoO2 crystals of about 5 mm in diameter and 70 mm long were obtained at a tilting angle θ = 10°. The grown crystals were confirmed to be single-domain by neutron Laue diffraction. © 2018 American Chemical Society

Keywords

Crystals, Crystallization, Crystal structure, Evaporation, Solvents, Laue method, Neutron diffraction

Citation

Nakamura, S., Maljuk, A., Maruyama, Y., Nagao, M., Watauchi, S., Hayashi, T., Anzai, Y., Furukawa, Y., Ling, C. D., Deng, G., Avdeev, M., Büchner, B., & Tanaka, I. (2019). Growth of LiCoO2 single crystals by the TSFZ method. Crystal Growth & Design, 19(1), 415–420. doi:10.1021/acs.cgd.8b01503