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Quaternary metal‐chalcogenides combining rare‐earth cations with late transition metal cations are attracting growing attention for their optical properties, such as for solar energy conversion or second harmonic generation. Synthetic explorations of theII₃‐I₂‐IV₂‐Ch₈family (II = Eu;I = Cu or Ag;IV = Si, Ch = S or Se) have yielded Eu₃Ag₂Si₂S₈(1) and Eu₃Cu_1.08(1)Si_2.42(1)Se₈(2). Their structures have been characterized by X‐ray diffraction to form in the noncentrosymmetric space groupI3dand to exhibit two distinct types of mixed‐site occupancies, for the Ag(I) cations in1and mixed Cu(I)/Si(IV) cations in2. In both, the cation disorder occurs to achieve charge balancing with the chalcogenide anions. A high yield of1can be achievedwith optical measurements showing indirect and direct band transitions of ≈2.2(1) and ≈2.4(1) eV, respectively. Its second harmonic generation response is found to be relatively strong, approximately 0.9 × AgGaS₂, confirming its noncentrosymmetric structure. Band structure calculations reveal the valence and conduction band edges stem predominantly from the filled Ag(I)/Cu(I)‐based states and empty Si(IV)‐based states, respectively, with additional contributions from the chalcogenide anions. Calculation results also show that cation disorder facilitates a reduction in the antibonding interactions between the Ag(I)/Cu(I)d‐based and chalcogenidep‐based states. 

Two multinary selenides, Ba8Hf2Se11(Se2) and Ba9Hf3Se14(Se2), with unprecedented structure types have been prepared using high-temperature synthesis techniques and represent the first known compounds in the Ba-Hf-Se system. Their structures were determined from single crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD) data. The Ba8Hf2Se11(Se2) compound crystallizes in the monoclinic C2/c space group with a = 12.3962(15) Å, b = 12.8928(15) Å, c = 18.1768(17) Å, and β = 90.685(4)°, while Ba9Hf3Se14(Se2) forms in the rhombohedral R space group with a = b = 19.4907(6) Å and c = 23.6407(11) Å. Both have pseudo-zero-dimensional structures with homoatomic Se–Se bonding in the form of (Se2)2− at distances of 2.400–2.402 Å. The structure of Ba8Hf2Se11(Se2) is comprised of [Hf2Se11]14−, Ba2+, and (Se2)2− dimers. Conversely, the Ba9Hf3Se14(Se2) structure contains a novel perovskite-type cluster constructed from eight octahedrally-coordinated Hf cations, i.e., [Hf8Se36]40−, and isolated [HfSe6]8− units which are separated by (Se2)2− dimers and Ba2+ cations. Polycrystalline Ba8Hf2Se11(Se2) is synthesized at 1073 K using a two-step solid-state synthesis method, with the co-formation of a small amount of a BaSe secondary phase. A direct bandgap of 2.2(2) eV is obtained for the polycrystalline sample of Ba8Hf2Se11(Se2), which is consistent with its yellow color. Density functional theory calculations reveal their bandgap transitions stem from predominantly filled Se-4p to empty Hf-5d at the edges of the valence bands (VB) and conduction bands (CB), respectively. The optical absorption coefficients are calculated to be relatively large, exceeding ∼105 cm−1 at about >2.0 eV with effective masses in the CB varying from ∼0.5 me (Γ → A) in Ba8Hf2Se11(Se2) to ∼1.0 me (Γ → L) in Ba9Hf3Se14(Se2). Thus, their optoelectronic properties are shown to be competitive with existing perovskite-type chalcogenides that have been a focus of recent research efforts. 

Sn(II)-based perovskite oxides, being the subject of longstanding theoretical interest for the past two decades, have been synthesized for the first time in the form of nano eggshell particle morphologies. All past reported synthetic attempts have been unsuccessful owing to their metastable nature, i.e. , by their thermodynamic instability towards decomposition to their constituent oxides. A new approach was discovered that finally provides an effective solution to surmounting this intractable synthetic barrier and which can be the key to unlocking the door to many other predicted metastable oxides. A low-melting KSn2Cl5 salt was utilized to achieve a soft topotactic exchange of Sn(II) cations into a Ba-containing perovskite, i.e., BaHfO3 with particle sizes of ∼350 nm, at a low reaction temperature of 200 °C. The resulting particles exhibit nanoshell-over-nanoshell morphologies, i.e., with SnHfO3 forming as ∼20 nm thick shells over the surfaces of the BaHfO3 eggshell particles. Formation of the metastable SnHfO3 is found to be thermodynamically driven by the co-production of the highly stable BaCl2 and KCl side products. Despite this, total energy calculations show that Sn(II) distorts from the A-site asymmetrically and randomly and the interdiffusion has a negligible impact on the energy of the system (i.e., layered vs. solid solution). Additionally, nano eggshell particle morphologies of BaHfO3 were found to yield highly pure SnHfO3 for the first time, thus circumventing the intrinsic ion-diffusion limits occurring at this low reaction temperature. In summary, these results demonstrate that the metastability of many theoretically predicted Sn(II)-perovskites can be overcome by leveraging the high cohesive energies of the reactants, the exothermic formation of a stable salt side product, and a shortened diffusion pathway for the Sn(II) cations. 

Abstract The removal of lead from commercialized perovskite‐oxide‐based piezoceramics has been a recent major topic in materials research owing to legislation in many countries. In this regard, Sn(II)‐perovskite oxides have garnered keen interest due to their predicted large spontaneous electric polarizations and isoelectronic nature for substitution of Pb(II) cations. However, they have not been considered synthesizable owing to their high metastability. Herein, the perovskite lead hafnate, i.e., PbHfO₃in space groupPbam, is shown to react with SnClF at a low temperature of 300 °C, and resulting in the first complete Sn(II)‐for‐Pb(II) substitution, i.e. SnHfO₃. During this topotactic transformation, a high purity and crystallinity is conserved withPbamsymmetry, as confirmed by X‐ray and electron diffraction, elemental analysis, and¹¹⁹Sn Mössbauer spectroscopy. In situ diffraction shows SnHfO₃also possesses reversible phase transformations and is potentially polar between ≈130–200 °C. This so‐called ‘de‐leadification’ is thus shown to represent a highly useful strategy to fully remove lead from perovskite‐oxide‐based piezoceramics and opening the door to new explorations of polar and antipolar Sn(II)‐oxide materials.