<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><!DOCTYPE article  PUBLIC "-//NLM//DTD Journal Publishing DTD v3.0 20080202//EN" "http://dtd.nlm.nih.gov/publishing/3.0/journalpublishing3.dtd"><article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" dtd-version="3.0" xml:lang="en" article-type="research article"><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">JMMCE</journal-id><journal-title-group><journal-title>Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering</journal-title></journal-title-group><issn pub-type="epub">2327-4077</issn><publisher><publisher-name>Scientific Research Publishing</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.4236/jmmce.2015.32007</article-id><article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">JMMCE-53536</article-id><article-categories><subj-group subj-group-type="heading"><subject>Articles</subject></subj-group><subj-group subj-group-type="Discipline-v2"><subject>Chemistry&amp;Materials Science</subject><subject> Engineering</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title>
 
 
  Investigation on Structural, Optical and Thermal Properties of Diphenyl Urea—An Organic Non-Linear Optical Crystal
 
</article-title></title-group><contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>aishree</surname><given-names>Damodharan</given-names></name><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"><sup>1</sup></xref><xref ref-type="corresp" rid="cor1"><sup>*</sup></xref></contrib><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Kanchana</surname><given-names>Gopinath</given-names></name><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"><sup>2</sup></xref><xref ref-type="corresp" rid="cor1"><sup>*</sup></xref></contrib><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Kesavasamy</surname><given-names>Ramasamy</given-names></name><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3"><sup>3</sup></xref><xref ref-type="corresp" rid="cor1"><sup>*</sup></xref></contrib></contrib-group><aff id="aff2"><addr-line>Department of Physics, Government Arts College, Coimbatore, India</addr-line></aff><aff id="aff3"><addr-line>Department of Physics, Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College, Coimbatore, India</addr-line></aff><aff id="aff1"><addr-line>Department of Physics, Sri Ramakrishna Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, India</addr-line></aff><author-notes><corresp id="cor1">* E-mail:<email>jaishree.damu@gmail.com(AD)</email>;<email>kanchanagopinath@gmail.com(KG)</email>;<email>kesav_cbe@yahoo.co.in(KR)</email>;</corresp></author-notes><pub-date pub-type="epub"><day>27</day><month>01</month><year>2015</year></pub-date><volume>03</volume><issue>02</issue><fpage>49</fpage><lpage>54</lpage><history><date date-type="received"><day>7</day>	<month>January</month>	<year>2015</year></date><date date-type="rev-recd"><day>accepted</day>	<month>23</month>	<year>January</year>	</date><date date-type="accepted"><day>27</day>	<month>January</month>	<year>2015</year></date></history><permissions><copyright-statement>&#169; Copyright  2014 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. </copyright-statement><copyright-year>2014</copyright-year><license><license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</license-p></license></permissions><abstract><p>
 
 
  Organic non-linear optical crystal diphenyl urea with molecular formula C
  <sub>13</sub>H
  <sub>12</sub>N
  <sub>2</sub>O was synthesized and grown successfully by slow evaporation solution growth technique. The single crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirms that it crystallizes in orthorhombic crystal system with non-centrosymmetric space group Pna21. The various functional groups were identified qualitatively by Fourier transform-infra red (FT-IR) and FT-Raman techniques. The electron absorption spectrum was studied by UV-Vis spectrophotometer. Thermal behavior of the crystal was evidenced by thermogravimetric (TG) and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) analyses. From DSC the melt ing point of the crystal is found to be 145&#176;C. The existence of second harmonic generation (SHG) signal was evidenced using Kurtz Perry powder test and the efficiency of the crystal was found to be 0.64 times that of the standard KDP crystal.
 
</p></abstract><kwd-group><kwd>Non-Linear Optical Crystal</kwd><kwd> Slow Evaporation Technique</kwd><kwd> Characterization</kwd></kwd-group></article-meta></front><body><sec id="s1"><title>1. Introduction</title><p>The ideal material that could have potential applications in non-linear optical devices should possess a combina- tion of large non-linear figure of merit for frequency conversion, high laser damage threshold, fast optical re- sponse time, wide phase matchable angle, architectural flexibility for molecular design and morphology, optical transparency and high mechanical strength [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.53536-ref1">1</xref>] . Extensive studies have been made on the synthesis and crystal growth of non-linear optical (NLO) materials over the past decade because of their potential application in the field of telecommunication, optical signal processing and optical switching. Organic materials have been of par- ticular interest because the NLO responses in this broad class of materials are microscopic in origin, offering an opportunity to use theoretical modelling coupled with synthetic flexibility to design and produce novel materials [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.53536-ref2">2</xref>] [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.53536-ref3">3</xref>] . The most popular non-linear optical materials used to generate the SHG signal so far have been inorganic bulk crystals with rather small second-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities, such as potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP), lithium triborate (LBO), β-barium borate (BBO), lithium niobate (LiNbO<sub>3</sub>), potassium niobate (KNbO<sub>3</sub>) etc., [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.53536-ref4">4</xref>] . But due its lower SHG efficiency and laser damage threshold, materials scientist fo- cused their attention on organic materials because they possess large second-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities due to delocalized π-electrons [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.53536-ref5">5</xref>] . These crystals were composed of aromatic molecules with π electron donor and acceptor substitutions. They normally exhibit intermolecular charge transfer and lead to the required pro- perty of non centrosymmetry and make them good frequency conversion material [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.53536-ref6">6</xref>] .</p><p>Diphenyl urea has a wide biological importance. It has been expected to be an excellent potential tyrosine phosphate inhibitor and sickle-cell anemia treatment drug. The structure of diphenyl urea was reported by Rajinikant et al. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.53536-ref7">7</xref>] but there are no reports available in the literature on the growth and characterizations of diphenyl urea. Not only in biological aspects, diphenyl urea can also be used as non-linear optical crystal for industrial purposes. Hence in the present article we have reported the material synthesis, growth and characterization of diphenyl urea by slow evaporation solution growth technique. The grown crystals have been subjected into structural, spectral, optical, thermal and SHG studies.</p></sec><sec id="s2"><title>2. Experimental</title>Synthesis and Growth<p>Analar R grade samples of 1.07 g of phenylisocyanate, 0.94 g of aniline and 0.5 ml of triethyl amine are used as the reactants. The precipitated diphenylurea was filtered off and repeatedly recrystallised from ethanol to enhance the degree of purity of the synthesized compound. The chemical structure is shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig1">Figure 1</xref>.</p><p>The photograph of the grown crystals was shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig2">Figure 2</xref>.</p></sec><sec id="s3"><title>3. Characterization Studies</title><p>The grown crystals were subjected to single crystal X-ray diffraction using Enraf Nonius-CAD 4 diffractometer. FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra were recorded to confirm the presence of functional groups using Bruker: RFS 27</p><fig id="fig1"  position="float"><label><xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig1">Figure 1</xref></label><caption><title> Chemical structure</title></caption><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/1-2710241x5.png"/></fig><fig id="fig2"  position="float"><label><xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig2">Figure 2</xref></label><caption><title> Photograph of diphenyl urea crystals</title></caption><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/1-2710241x6.png"/></fig><p>spectrometer in the frequency range 400 - 4000 cm<sup>−1</sup>. The optical absorption spectrum was recorded by double beam UV-Vis spectrophotometer. Thermal stability of the crystals was tested in the temperature range 0˚ to 800˚C using NETZSCH STA 409C. The NLO property of the crystal was confirmed by Nd-YAG laser using Kurtz Perry powder test.</p></sec><sec id="s4"><title>4. Results and Discussion</title><sec id="s4_1"><title>4.1. Single Crystal X-Ray Diffraction Analysis</title><p>The single crystal XRD analysis of the grown crystal was carried out using Enraf Nonius-CAD 4 single crystal diffractometer. This study reveals that the crystal belongs to orthorhombic crystal system and crystallizes under non-centrosymmetric space group Pna2<sub>1</sub> with molecularformula C<sub>13</sub>H<sub>12</sub>N<sub>2</sub>O. The obtained lattice parameters are a = 9.11 &#197;, b = 10.56 &#197;, c = 11.78 &#197; and its volume is found to be 1133 &#197; which are in close agreement with the reported values [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.53536-ref7">7</xref>] .</p></sec><sec id="s4_2"><title>4.2. FT-IR Analysis</title><p>The FT-IR spectrum of the grown crystal was recorded within the frequency region 400 - 4000 cm<sup>−1</sup> using Bruker: RFS 27 spectrometer. The recorded spectrum is shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig3">Figure 3</xref>. The presence of functional groups was identified and the band assignments are tabulated in <xref ref-type="table" rid="table1">Table 1</xref>.</p><table-wrap id="table1" ><label><xref ref-type="table" rid="table1">Table 1</xref></label><caption><title> Band assignments of diphenyl urea</title></caption><table><tbody><thead><tr><th align="center" valign="middle" >Wave number (cm<sup>−</sup><sup>1</sup>)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" >Assignments</th></tr></thead><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >3330</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >asymmetric N-H stretching</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >3082</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >asymmetric C-H stretching</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >2782</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >symmetric C-H stretching vibration of methyl group</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >1966</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >overtones and combinations</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >1638</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >C=C stretching due to the aromatic ring</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >1549</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >asymmetric stretching of NO<sub>2</sub> group</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >1494</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >COO stretching</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >1442</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >-CH<sub>3</sub> asymmetric bending</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >1369</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >-CH<sub>3</sub> symmetric bending</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >1315</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >symmetric stretching of NO<sub>2</sub> group</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >1270</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >C-O stretching</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >1233</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >N-H…S hydrogen bonding</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >1158</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >C-H bending</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >1079</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Ρ (NH<sub>2</sub>)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >1051</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >C-N stretching</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >1022</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >C-H bending (in plane)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >963</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >C-H bending</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >936</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >C-H deformation</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >907</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >C-NO<sub>2</sub> stretching</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >894</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >C-C-N symmetric stretching</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >827</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NO<sub>2</sub> scissoring</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >794</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >C-H bending (out of plane)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >751</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NO<sub>2</sub> wagging</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >698</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >C-H bending (out of plane)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >546</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NO<sub>2</sub> rocking</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >522</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >NO<sub>2</sub> scissoring</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >506</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >δ(N-C-S)</td></tr></tbody></table></table-wrap><fig id="fig3"  position="float"><label><xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig3">Figure 3</xref></label><caption><title> FT-IR spectrum</title></caption><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/1-2710241x7.png"/></fig></sec><sec id="s4_3"><title>4.3. FT-Raman Analysis</title><p>The recorded FT-Raman spectrum was shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig4">Figure 4</xref>.</p><p>The presence of functional groups was further confirmed by Raman spectrum. The peak at 3063.75 cm<sup>−1</sup> is due to asymmetric stretching and the peak observed at 1646.24 cm<sup>−1</sup> is due to C-C stretching. The strong peaks at 1328 cm<sup>−1</sup> and 1308 cm<sup>−1</sup> are due to symmetric stretching of NO<sub>2</sub> group. The weak bands at 1269.31 cm<sup>−1</sup> and 1155.78 cm<sup>−1</sup> are due to C-O stretching and C-H bending respectively. The C-N and C-NO<sub>2</sub> stretching bands are evidenced at 1051.85 cm<sup>−1</sup> and 913.64 cm<sup>−1</sup>. NO<sub>2</sub> scissoring is observed at 823 cm<sup>−1</sup>.</p></sec><sec id="s4_4"><title>4.4. UV-Vis Studies</title><p>The absorption spectrum of the grown crystals was measured by double beam UV-Vis spectrophotometer for the wavelength range 200 to 800 nm and is shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig5">Figure 5</xref>.</p><p>The absorption spectrum plays a vital role in the fabrication of devices. It is observed that there is no remark- able absorption in the visible region and the lower cut off wavelength is 450 nm. The absence of absorption above 450 nm is an advantage, as it is the prime requirement for materials having NLO properties. It can be used as an SHG material in the visible region.</p></sec><sec id="s4_5"><title>4.5. Thermogravimetric and Differential Scanning Calorimetric Studies</title><p>TGA and DSC thermograms are recorded using NETZSCH STA 409C instrument between room temperature and 700˚C in nitrogen atmosphere. Simultaneously recorded TGA and DSC thermograms are shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig6">Figure 6</xref>.</p><p>The recorded thermogram gives information about the phase transition, water of crystallization and different stages of decomposition of the crystal. Since the decomposition temperature is beyond 100˚C, there is no evidence for entrapped water in the crystal lattice or any adsorbed water on the crystal surface. The endothermic peak observed at 145˚C corresponds to the melting point of the crystal. The material is moisture free and is stable upto 145˚C. This is followed by two exothermic peaks at 229˚C and 347˚C which may be due to the decomposition and volatilization of the compound. The total decomposition of the crystal occurs at 748˚C and a residual mass of 1.22% is obtained. From the TGA and DSC curves it is evidenced that the crystals are stable up to 145˚C and can be used for device applications below this temperature.</p><fig id="fig4"  position="float"><label><xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig4">Figure 4</xref></label><caption><title> FT-Raman spectrum</title></caption><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/1-2710241x8.png"/></fig><fig id="fig5"  position="float"><label><xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig5">Figure 5</xref></label><caption><title> UV absorption spectrum</title></caption><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/1-2710241x9.png"/></fig></sec><sec id="s4_6"><title>4.6. Non-Linear Optical Studies</title><p>The SHG efficiency of the newly grown crystal is determined by Kurtz Perry powder test. The sample is pow- dered and is sandwiched between the two glass slides. A Q-switched Nd:YAG laser emitting a fundamental wavelength of 1064 nm and 8 ns pulse width, with 10 Hz pulse rate was focused on the glass slides. The frequency conversion efficiency of the crystal was confirmed by the emission of green radiation from the sample. Here the conversion efficiency of the material is compared with standard reference potassium di hydrogen phosphate (KDP) sample. The SHG efficiency of the crystal is found to be 0.64 times that the standard KDP crystal.</p></sec></sec><sec id="s5"><title>5. Conclusion</title><p>Single crystals of diphenyl urea were grown successfully by slow evaporation of the solvent at room temperature. Single crystal XRD confirms the formation of diphenyl urea crystal with a non-centrosymmetric space group of Pna2<sub>1</sub> with lattice parameters a = 9.11 &#197;, b = 10.56 &#197;, c = 11.78 &#197;. Vibration frequencies were assigned from FT-IR and FT RAMAN spectral analysis which confirms the presence of functional groups. Optical absorption studies show that the sample is optically transparent over a wide wavelength region and minimum absorption is observed in the entire visible region. From the thermal measurements it was found that the com- pound is stable up to 145˚C and hence it may be useful for SHG applications below its melting point. The SHG</p><fig id="fig6"  position="float"><label><xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig6">Figure 6</xref></label><caption><title> TGA &amp; DSC thermogram</title></caption><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/1-2710241x10.png"/></fig><p>efficiency of the grown crystal was measured by Kurtz Perry powder test and its efficiency was found to be 0.64 times that of the standard KDP crystal. 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