Novel solid state vacuum quartz encapsulated growth of p-Terphenyl: the parent High Tc Oraganic Superconductor (HTOS)

TL;DR

This paper presents a simple, solid-state quartz encapsulation method for growing high-quality p-Terphenyl crystals, which are the parent material of a recently discovered high-temperature organic superconductor with potential for superconductivity up to 120K.

Contribution

It introduces a novel, easy crystal growth technique for p-Terphenyl, facilitating future research into doped variants with high-temperature superconductivity.

Findings

Successful growth of single-crystal p-Terphenyl with monoclinic structure

Crystals show layered slab-like morphology without oxygen contamination

Method potentially applicable to doped p-Terphenyl for high-Tc superconductivity

Abstract

We report an easy and versatile route for the synthesis of the parent phase of newest superconducting wonder material i.e. p-Terphenyl. Doped p-terphenyl has recently shown superconductivity with transition temperature as high as 120K. For crystal growth, the commercially available p-Terphenyl powder is pelletized, encapsulated in evacuated (10-4 Torr) quartz tube and subjected to high temperature (260C) melt followed by slow cooling at 5C/hour. Simple temperature controlled heating furnace is used during the process. The obtained crystal is one piece, shiny and plate like. Single crystal surface XRD (X-ray Diffraction) showed unidirectional (00l) lines, indicating that the crystal is grown along c-direction. Powder XRD of the specimen showed that as grown p-Terphenyl is crystallized in monoclinic structure with space group P21/a space group, having lattice parameters a = 8.08(2) A, b = 5.62(5) A and c= 13.58(3) A. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) pictures of the crystal showed clear layered slab like growth without any visible contamination from oxygen. Characteristic reported Raman active modes related to C-C-C bending, C-H bending, C-C stretching and C-H stretching vibrations are seen clearly for the studied p-Terphenyl crystal. The physical properties of crystal are yet underway. The short letter reports an easy and versatile crystal growth method for obtaining quality p-terphenyl. The same growth method may probably be applied to doped p-terphenyl and to subsequently achieve superconductivity to the tune of as high 120K for the newest superconductivity wonder i.e., High Tc Oraganic Superconductor (HTOS).