Crystal Growth of the Quasi-2D Quarternary Compound AgCrP$_2$S$_6$ by Chemical Vapor Transport

TL;DR

This paper details the optimized growth of high-quality AgCrP$_2$S$_6$ crystals via chemical vapor transport, enabling future studies of 2D magnetism and potential exfoliation into monolayers.

Contribution

It presents the first optimized conditions for growing large, high-quality AgCrP$_2$S$_6$ single crystals suitable for magnetic and 2D material research.

Findings

Crystals exhibit layered, hexagonal morphology.

Crystallizes in monoclinic P2/a space group.

Growth conditions enable future 2D magnetism studies.

Abstract

We report optimized crystal growth conditions for the quarternary compound AgCrP$_2$S$_6$ by chemical vapor transport. Compositional and structural characterization of the obtained crystals were carried out by means of energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and powder X-ray diffraction. AgCrP$_2$S$_6$ is structurally closely related to the $M_2$P$_2$S$_6$ family, which contains several compounds that are under investigation as 2D magnets. As-grown crystals exhibit a plate-like, layered morphology as well as a hexagonal habitus. AgCrP$_2$S$_6$ crystallizes in monoclinic symmetry in the space group $P2/a$ (No. 13). The successful growth of large high-quality single crystals paves the way for further investigations of low dimensional magnetism and its anisotropies in the future and may further allow for the manufacturing of few-layer (or even monolayer) samples by exfoliation.