Hexagonal Pore Organization in Mesostructured Metal Tin Sulfides Built with [Sn₂S₆]^4- Cluster

Abstract

We present the first report of hexagonally ordered mesostructured ternary metal tin sulfide materials along with their structure and optical properties. The new mesophases designated as (CP)xMySn2S6 (M = Zn2+, Cd2+, Ga3+) where synthesized by linking [Sn2S6]4- clusters with metal ions in the presence of cetylpyridinium (CP) surfactant molecules in formamide solution under basic conditions. The materials are semiconductors in the energy range 2.5 < Eg < 3.1 eV. The mesostructured (CP)xMySn2S6 show photoluminescence, when excited with light above the band gap.