Advances in Chalcogenide Crystal Growth: Flux and Solution Syntheses, and Approaches for Postsynthetic Modifications

Thisperspective focuses on three convenient approachesto obtain chalcogenide single crystals over a wide temperature range:solution synthesis, flux crystal growth, and single-crystal-to-single-crystalpostsynthetic modifications. Chalcogenide-containingmaterials are important for the semiconductorand thermoelectric industries and are up-and-coming materials forsuperconductors, catalysis, and battery applications. Challenges inthe synthesis of those materials emerge from the chalcogen'svolatility and from the tendencies of chalcogenide materials to reactwith even trace quantities of oxygen. Nonetheless, many techniqueshave been applied to the growth of chalcogenide single crystals, whichare convenient for structure determinations and intrinsic propertymeasurements. In the current perspective, we highlight flux crystalgrowth, solution syntheses, and a novel approach, single-crystal-to-single-crystalmodifications, as convenient routes for the preparation of single-crystalchalcogenide materials and emphasize recent advances in those synthetictechniques that have resulted in novel chalcogenide materials classesand that exhibit important properties.