Bonding Energy and Growth Habit of Lithium Niobate Single Crystals

On the basis of crystallographic structure of lithium niobate (LN), the bonding energy was quantitatively calculated by the bond valence sum model, which was employed to investigate the crystal growth. A possible relationship between the crystal growth habit and chemical bonding energy of LN crystals are found. It is found that the higher the bond energy, the slower the growth rate, and the more important the plane. The analytical results indicate that (012) plane is the most influential face for the LN crystal growth, which consists well with the standard card (JCPDS Card: 20-0631) and our previous experimental observation. The current work shows that the chemical bond analysis of LN crystals allows us to predict its growth habit and thus to obtain the expected morphology during the spontaneous growth.