Growth, spectral, thermal, mechanical, linear and nonlinear optical studies of divalent metal ions doped zinc tris-thiourea sulphate single crystals

Abstract

Zinc tris-thiourea sulphate (ZTS) and divalent metal ions (Cd²⁺ and Ni²⁺) doped zinc tris-thiourea sulphate materials are synthesized from aqueous solution and single crystals are grown from aqueous solution by slow evaporation technique. The unit cell parameters of the grown crystals are evaluated by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The powder X-ray diffraction patterns are recorded and indexed for further confirmation of crystalline nature of grown crystals. The presence of functional groups in the grown crystals has been confirmed by FTIR analysis. The incorporation of cadmium and nickel ions entered into ZTS crystals is confirmed from SEM-EDX analysis. TGA/DTA thermal analyses revealed that the materials have good thermal stability. Mechanical behaviour have been studied using Vicker’s microhardness measurements. UV-visible transmission spectra have been recorded in the spectral range 200-900 nm to find the cut-off wavelength and optical band gap E_g of grown crystals in non-linear applications. The nonlinear optical properties of pure and doped ZTS crystals were confirmed by Kurtz Perry powder method using Nd:YAG laser source.