Single crystal growth of BiMnO3 under high pressure-high temperature

In the literature, the properties of the multiferroic BiMnO3 oxide have been studied in polycrystalline and thin film materials. Here, we report the first study performed on a single crystal of BiMnO3. The single crystals were grown at high pressure-high temperature (HP-HT) in a belt system using a flux method based on H3BO3. For the first time, we have measured the Raman spectrum of BiMnO3 and solved its crystallographic structure based on the data collected by X-ray diffraction (XRD) on a single crystal. In addition, we have studied in situ the HP-HT synthesis of polycrystalline BiMnO3 by XRD. Starting from a mixture of Bi2O3 and Mn2O3, an intermediate phase has been found before the formation of the distorted perovskite BiMnO3.