Crystals 2014, 4, 168-189; doi:10.3390/cryst4020168 OPEN ACCESS crystals ISSN 2073-4352 www.mdpi.com/journal/crystals Review Flux-Grown Piezoelectric Materials: Application to α-Quartz Analogues Pascale Armand *, Adrien Lignie, Marion Beaurain and Philippe Papet Institut Charles Gerhardt Montpellier, UMR5253, CNRS-UM2-ENSCM-UM1, C2M, UMII, CC 1504, Place E. Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; E-Mails:
[email protected] (A.L.);
[email protected] (M.B.);
[email protected] (P.P.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +33-4-67-14-33-19; Fax: +33-4-67-14-42-90. Received: 22 April 2014; in revised form: 11 June 2014 / Accepted: 12 June 2014 / Published: 23 June 2014 Abstract: Using the slow-cooling method in selected MoO3-based fluxes, single-crystals of GeO2 and GaPO4 materials with an α-quartz-like structure were grown at high temperatures (T ≥ 950 °C). These piezoelectric materials were obtained in millimeter-size as well-faceted, visually colorless and transparent crystals. Compared to crystals grown by hydrothermal methods, infrared and Raman measurements revealed flux-grown samples without significant hydroxyl group contamination and thermal analyses demonstrated a total reversibility of the α-quartz ↔ β-cristobalite phase transition for GaPO4 and an absence of phase transition before melting for α-GeO2. The elastic constants CIJ (with I, J indices from 1 to 6) of these flux-grown piezoelectric crystals were experimentally determined at room and high temperatures. The ambient results for as-grown α-GaPO4 were in good agreement with those obtained from hydrothermally-grown samples and the two longitudinal elastic constants measured versus temperature up to 850 °C showed a monotonous evolution.