Morphology and growth habit of a new flux-grown layered semiconductor KBiS2 revealed by diffraction-contrast tomography

Single crystals of rhombohedral KBiS2 were synthesized for the first time, and the structure, growth habit and properties of this layered semiconductor are presented. The single crystals form from a reactive K2S5 salt flux and are still embedded in the residual flux, without removal from the reaction vessel throughout the whole study. Laboratory diffraction contrast tomography (LabDCT) is used to identify the crystalline phase, orientation, and microstructure of crystals. Meanwhile, powder and single crystal X-ray diffraction were performed to determine detailed crystallographic information. Morphology of the crystalline assemblies observed by absorption contrast tomography reveals screw-dislocation-driven growth to be the dominant mechanism. First-principles electronic structure simulations predict rhombohedral KBiS2 to be a semiconductor with an indirect band gap, which was confirmed by experiment. This study demonstrates how non-destructive tomography imaging and 3D crystallography methods can lead to advances in discovering new materials and studying crystal growth mechanisms.