Crystal growth of YCuO2 delafossite containing triangular Cu planes

Abstract Crystal growth of YCuO 2 delafossite was studied by a traveling solvent floating zone method. The crystals were grown at the traveling speed of less than 0.2 mm/h in flowing N 2 +18∼21%O 2 gas mixture to prevent the formation of Y 2 Cu 2 O 5 phase and/or decomposition into Y 2 O 3 and Cu metal. X-ray diffraction patterns from the powdered single-crystal samples indicated that the 2H-polytypes were grown. After post-annealing the as-grown specimens, delafossite-derived oxides (YCuO 2+ δ ), in which excess oxygen atoms were likely loaded in the triangular Cu planes, were also obtained.