Interlocked chiral/polar domain walls and large optical rotation in Ni3TeO6

• DOI: 10.1063/1.4927232
• Publication Date: 2015-07-24T17:00:26Z
• Authors: Xueyun Wang; Fei-Ting Huang; Junjie Yang; Yoon Seok Oh; Sang-Wook Cheong
• Keywords: Physics; QC1-999; 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences; TP248.13-248.65; Biotechnology

Chirality, i.e., handedness, pervades much of modern science from elementary particles, DNA-based biology to molecular chemistry; however, most of the chirality-relevant materials have been based on complex molecules. Here, we report inorganic single-crystalline Ni3TeO6, forming in a corundum-related R3 structure with both chirality and polarity. These chiral Ni3TeO6 single crystals exhibit a large optical specific rotation (α)—1355° dm−1 cm3 g−1. We demonstrate, for the first time, that in Ni3TeO6, chiral and polar domains form an intriguing domain pattern, resembling a radiation warning sign, which stems from interlocked chiral and polar domain walls through lowering of the wall energy.