Interlocked chiral/polar domain walls and large optical rotation in Ni3TeO6

Chirality, i.e., handedness, pervades much of modern science from elementary particles, DNA-based biology to molecular chemistry; however, most of the chirality-relevant materials have been based on complex molecules. Here, we report inorganic single-crystalline Ni3TeO6, forming in a corundum-relate...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Xueyun Wang, Fei-Ting Huang, Junjie Yang, Yoon Seok Oh, Sang-Wook Cheong
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AIP Publishing LLC 2015-07-01
Series:APL Materials
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4927232
Description
Summary:Chirality, i.e., handedness, pervades much of modern science from elementary particles, DNA-based biology to molecular chemistry; however, most of the chirality-relevant materials have been based on complex molecules. Here, we report inorganic single-crystalline Ni3TeO6, forming in a corundum-related R3 structure with both chirality and polarity. These chiral Ni3TeO6 single crystals exhibit a large optical specific rotation (α)—1355° dm−1 cm3 g−1. We demonstrate, for the first time, that in Ni3TeO6, chiral and polar domains form an intriguing domain pattern, resembling a radiation warning sign, which stems from interlocked chiral and polar domain walls through lowering of the wall energy.
ISSN:2166-532X