Optical, dielectric and ferroelectric behaviour on doped lithium sulphate crystals

Optically transparent single crystals of urea doped with lithium sulphate (ULS), thiourea doped with lithium sulphate (TLS) and cupric chloride doped with lithium sulphate (CuLS) were grown in aqueous solution by slow evaporation technique at room temperature. Single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the changes in the lattice parameters of the ULS, TLS and CuLS. The lattice parameters and the quality of doped crystals were confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction studies. The functional groups present in the ULS, TLS and CuLS crystals were determined qualitatively by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Optical absorption studies revealed that doped crystals acquire very low absorption in the entire visible region. The energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) gives the chemical composition of the grown crystal. CHN analysis confirmed the presence of carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen in the added dopants. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the doped crystal were studied as a function of frequency and temperature and the ferroelectric property of the crystal was confirmed by dielectric studies. (C) 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.