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From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
Exploring a new short-wavelength nonlinear optical fluoride material featuring unprecedented polar cis-[Zr6F34]10-
Mei Yan1, Ru-Ling Tang1, Wen-Dong Yao1
1School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yangzhou University 180 Siwangting Road Yangzhou 225002 P. R. China rltang@yzu.edu.cn spguo@yzu.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Traditional fluorides are rarely reported as candidates for nonlinear optical (NLO) materials featuring a deep-ultraviolet cutoff edge. Theoretical investigations suggest that the ZrF8 dodecahedron shows large polarizability anisotropy and benefits for large birefringence. Herein, a new fluorine-rich fluoride, K3Ba2Zr6F31, was synthesized by coupling the ZrF8 group, featuring acentric cis-[Zr6F34]10- clusters with a 63-screw axis. Significantly, K3Ba2Zr6F31 exhibits a short UV cutoff edge (below 200 nm) and moderate second-harmonic generation (SHG) response (0.5 × KH2PO4). It also possesses a relatively large birefringence (0.08@1064 nm), together with a broad transparency window (2.5-21.1 μm). First-principles calculations suggest that the cis-[Zr6F34]10- cluster built by ZrF8 dodecahedra are the dominant contributors to the large band gap (7.89 eV, cal.) and SHG response simultaneously. Such systematic work highlights that Zr-based fluorides afford a new paradigm for the development of efficient NLO materials with a short UV cutoff edge.
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