Crystal growth and negative thermal expansion properties of a Y(2)Mo(4)O(15) single crystal

A bulk-size single crystal of Y(2)Mo(4)O(15) with 20 × 11 × 8 mm(3) was successfully grown by the top-seed solution growth (TSSG) method. The full-width at half maximum of (100) and (010) crystal faces is 37 and 27 arcsec, respectively. The thermal conductivity coefficients κ(11), κ(22), κ(33), and κ(13) are determined to be 1.519, 2.097, 0.445, and 0.997 W m(−1) K(−1), respectively. It is worth noting that the Y(2)Mo(4)O(15) crystal shows significant anisotropy thermal expansion properties, which exhibits a negative thermal expansion along the b-axis (α(22) = −5.11 × 10(−6) K(−1)). The crystal structure analysis shows that the shrinking of Mo–O bond lengths along the b-axis with the increasing temperature would be the main origin of the negative thermal expansion properties for Y(2)Mo(4)O(15) crystal, which does not comply with the current mechanism.