Designed Metal‐Free Quasi‐1D Crystals with Giant Birefringence
Birefringence, a vital property of anisotropic crystals, is indispensable for advanced optical technologies. Quasi-1D structures, with their inherent structural anisotropy, offer fertile ground for discovering materials with exceptional optical anisotropy. In this work, we report four metal-free quasi-1D crystals-(C<sub>5</sub>H<sub>6</sub>NO)<sup>+</sup>(NO<sub>3</sub>)<sup>-</sup>(4HPN), (C<sub>5</sub>H<sub>6</sub>NO)<sup>+</sup>(HC<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub>)<sup>-</sup>(4HPO), (C<sub>4</sub>N<sub>3</sub>H<sub>6</sub>)<sup>+</sup>(NO<sub>3</sub>)<sup>-</sup>(2APMN), and (C<sub>4</sub>N<sub>3</sub>H<sub>6</sub>)<sup>+</sup>(HC<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub>)<sup>-</sup>·H<sub>2</sub>O (2APMO)-designed to feature pseudo-chain structures and grown as centimeter-scale crystals via a facile aqueous-solution method. These crystals display wide bandgaps (3.40-4.48 eV) and exceptional birefringence, with calculated values up to 0.555@546 nm and an experimental maximum of 0.597@546 nm for 4HPN. The giant birefringence stems from their quasi-1D architectures, high-spatial density, and optimal arrangement of the birefringence-active groups (BAGs). This study highlights the promise of metal-free quasi-1D materials for next-generation miniaturized polarization optics and laser-driven applications.
Authors
- Yang Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5741-1711)
- Kang Min Ok (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7195-9089)
- Jihyun Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6071-4676)
Institutions
- Sogang University (KR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Chemistry - A European Journal
- Published
- 2025-04-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202500849
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Inorganic Fluorides and Related Compounds
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.15
Funders
- National Research Foundation
- National Research Foundation of Korea
- Ministry of Science and ICT, South Korea