Tuning the dielectric properties of thiourea analog crystals for efficient nonlinear optical applications

Materials with low dielectric constant have attracted a great deal of interest in the field of nonlinear applications and microelectronic industry. Metal complexes of thiourea with group II transition metals (Zn, Cd) as central atom and period III elements (5, Cl) were synthesized by chemical reaction method and single crystals were grown from aqueous solution by slow evaporation method. By parallel plate capacitor technique, the dielectric response, dissipation factor, ac conductivity and impedance of virgin and metal complexes have been studied in the frequency (100 Hz to 5 MHz) and temperature (303423 K) ranges. Metal complexes of thiourea with cadmium substitute have a low dielectric constant less than 10. Also the presence of chlorine in the metal complex induces noncentro symmetric structure. Hence the role of group II transition metals and period III elements in tuning the dielectric properties for efficient nonlinear applications has been studied. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.