Exploring the impact of solvent on growth, morphology and photoluminescence properties of organic electro-optic OH1 single crystal

In the present study, Organic nonlinear optical crystals of a configurationally locked phenolic polyene (CLP) 2-(3-(4-hydroxystryl)-5,5-trimethylcyclohex-2-enylidene) malononitrile (OH1) are grown by the slow evaporation method using polar protic and aqueous solvents, specifically with methanol and ethyl methyl ketone. Powder and single-crystal XRD measurements are used to identify the crystalline nature and system of the samples. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction is used to investigate the effect of solvent proticity on the morphology of the OH1 single crystal. FTIR analysis is used to confirm the modes of vibration of the molecules and the presence of functional groups. The optical absorption study reveals that the transparency of the crystal is in the entire visible region and the cut-off wavelength is found to be 424 nm. The photoluminescence spectra of OH1 crystals grown from methanol and ethyl methyl ketone showed emissions in the red-orange and red regions at 597 nm and 630 nm, respectively. The presence of second-harmonic generation (SHG) in the grown crystals are verified using the Kurtz powder technique.