Researchers have produced crystals by blending an inorganic salt with glycine, the simplest amino acid1. These crystals show encouraging properties that might be tapped for optoelectronic applications.
Complexes of amino acids with inorganic salts are promising materials. The researchers synthesised pink crystals of Diaqua Bisglycine Cobaltous Chloride by mixing glycine and cobaltous chloride.
They found that the higher percentage of transmission in the visible region of light clearly depicts the intrinsic property of amino acids and the crystal is free from any defects. It also showed good mechanical stability and could tolerate temperatures till about 116.86°C.
The optical band gap value of the crystals is greater than pure glycine, likely due to the presence of cobalt in glycine. This wide band gap can be harnessed to design material for optoelectronic devices like light emitting diode (LED) and laser diodes.
The authors of this work are from: Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology and Department of Physics, St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India.
