Growth, optical, thermal, mechanical and dielectric properties of 2,5-dimethylanilinium nitrate single crystal

The optically good quality single crystal of 2,5-Dimethylanilinium nitrate (2,5-DAN) has been successfully grown by slow evaporation solution growth technique using ethanol–water solution at room temperature. The single crystal X-ray diffraction study reveals that the crystal belongs to orthorhombic system with non-centrosymmetric space group Pmcn. The optical transmittance revealed that the grown crystal is transparent in the visible and NIR region with a lower cutoff wavelength of 260 nm. The title compound is thermally stable up to 215 °C, as assessed by thermogravimetric (TG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). Microhardness measurements revealed the mechanical strength of grown crystal. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss has been studied as a function of frequency for various temperatures. The second harmonic generation has been confirmed by the Kurtz powder technique using Nd:YAG laser and it is found to be 2.3 times more than that of KDP crystal.