Microstructure, growth mechanism and anisotropic resistivity of quasi-one-dimensional ZrTe5 crystal

The study of ZrTe 5 is revived because theory predicts the quantum spin Hall effect in monolayer ZrTe 5 and topological phase in bulk ZrTe 5 . To study the topological property of ZrTe 5 , the growth of large size and high-quality single crystals is the first and crucial step. Here, by mean of iodine (I 2 ) transport agent, centimeter-sized ZrTe 5 single crystals were successfully grown by the chemical vapor transport technique. The microstructure characterization reveals that grown ZrTe 5 crystal has “stacking stripes of wood” morphology, and growth mechanism is proposed accordingly. The size of grown ZrTe 5 crystals can be reached as large as 35×2×0.5 mm 3 , which enable us to measure the a -, b - and c - axis anisotropic resistance. Large and single crystalline ZrTe 5 crystals provide a solid basis for exploring its topological phase.