High pressure crystal growth of nickelates with a ScIDre HKZ furnace again yields a high-impact publication with remarkable results: Nature Communications published in one of its first 2018 papers a study based on the single crystal growth of LaNiO3 single crystals by the floating zone technique at oxygen pressures of up to 150 bar. For the first time, scientists of Alexander Komarek’s group from the Max-Planck-Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids could synthesize centimeter-sized single crystals of rare earth nickelates with high Ni3+ oxidation state, which are essentially free from Ni2+ impurities. Elevated oxygen pressure was a key to produce this remarkable material. The main finding of the study is an unexpected antiferromagnetic ordering in a highly metallic bulk state of LaNiO3 single crystals.


Nature Communications: Guo, Komarek et al 2018