Electrically controlled growths of 4-N,N-dimethylamino-4′-N′-methyl-stilbazolium tosylate (DAST) organic microcrystals

4-N,N-dimethylamino-4′-N′-methyl-stilbazolium tosylate (DAST) is one of the most important organic nonlinear optical (NLO) materials, but its controlled growth remains a challenge. Herein, we describe a novel method to control the growth of DAST on the surfaces of indium tin oxides coated with the patterned photoresists by electric field. Results indicate that zero-dimensional (0D) spherical DAST microcrystals tend to grow along the photoresist lines if an electric field with a low frequency of 500 Hz is applied. Rather differently, one-dimensional (1D) DAST microwires preferentially grow along the gaps of the photoresist lines under the control of an electric field with a high frequency of 1000 Hz. Growth of DAST microcrystals controlled by electric field leads to the increase in the crystallinity, but the chemical structures remain unchanged. Moreover, second harmonic generation signal was measured from the as-grown DAST microcrystals. The results presented in this work are helpful for rationally controlling the growth of 0D or 1D DAST microcrystals, and particularly, the strategy can be further expanded to control the growth of DAST derivatives or other organic NLO materials with similar chemical structures.