Synthesis and single-crystal structural study of Cu2GeS3

Cu2GeS3, a I2 IV VI3 semiconductor, has been prepared by solid state reaction of the constituent elements in vacuum-sealed quartz ampoules and structurally characterized using single crystal X-ray diffraction techniques. It crystallizes in the monoclinic space group Cc [No. 9], with a = 6.449(2), b = 11.319(3), c = 6.428(2) Å, β = 108.37(2) ∘, and Z = 4. This material is isotypic with Cu2SnS3, a recently reported type of structure which is based on a cubic close-packed array of sulfur atoms and can be viewed as a sphalerite super-structure. The final disagreement factors of the structure refinement carried out with SHELXL-93 were R(F) = 0.0454, wR(F2) = 0.1087 and S = 1.103 for all 557 independent reflections merged from the 1086 reflections measured.