Nontoxic KBBF Family Member Zn2BO3(OH): Balance between Beneficial Layered Structure and Layer Tendency

• Published in: Advanced science Vol. 6; no. 22; pp. 1901679 - n/a
• Main Authors: Wang, Xuefei, Zhang, Fangfang, Gao, Le, Yang, Zhihua, Pan, Shilie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken John Wiley and Sons Inc 01.11.2019; Wiley
• Subjects: borates; Communication; Communications; crystal growth habits; KBBF family; nonlinear optical materials; second harmonic generation
• ISSN: 2198-3844; 2198-3844
• DOI: 10.1002/advs.201901679

The conflict between beneficial layered structure for performances and layered growth habits in KBe2BO3F2 (KBBF) always restricts its practical applications. A beryllium‐free KBBF family member, Zn2BO3(OH), is explored to feature the same topological layer with KBBF by replacing [BeO3F]5− with [ZnO3(OH)]5− and excellent UV performances. It exhibits a second harmonic generation response of about 1.5 × KH2PO4 with the UV cutoff edge of 204 nm. The birefringence of Zn2BO3(OH) in the visible region is about 0.067, which is larger than those of commercial UV crystals LiB3O5, CsB3O5, and CsLiB6O10. Additionally, it has excellent thermal and water‐resistant stabilities. Owing to the removal of interlayer cations, Zn2BO3(OH) shows better growth habits than KBBF while achieving the balance between beneficial layered structure and layer tendency. Noncentrosymmetric Zn2BO3(OH) achieves nontoxic evolution from KBe2BO3F2 (KBBF) and BBF with a balance between the KBBF‐type layer and layered growth habit.