Syntheses,Crystal Structures,and Properties of New Ternary Chalcogenides of Group 4 Metals: Rb4Ti3S14, Cs4Zr3S14, K4Hf3Se14, and K4ZrHf2Se14

The new ternary compounds Rb₄Ti₃S₁₄, Cs₄Zr₃S₁₄, K₄Hf₃Se₁₄, and K₄ZrHf₂Se₁₄ were prepared by reacting the respective transition metals in alkali metal polychalcogenide melts. Two crystallographically independent transition metal cations are present that are coordinated by eight chalcogen atoms (Q) in an irregular fashion or by seven chalcogen atoms yielding a distorted pentagonal bipyramid. The M(1)Q₈ and M(2)Q₇ polyhedra are connected by sharing common edges or trigonal faces leading to the formation of infinite linear one‐dimensional anionic chains running parallel to the 101] direction. The chains are separated by alkali metal cations. The optical band gaps determined are 1.59 eV for Rb₄Ti₃S₁₄, 2.35 eV for Cs₄Zr₃S₁₄, and 2.02 eV for K₄Hf₃Se₁₄. In‐situ X‐ray powder diffractometry demonstrates that Rb₄Ti₃S₁₄ decomposes at 430 °C into Rb₂S₅ and TiS. During the cooling cycle the re‐formation of the polysulfide is observed. According to this result the polysulfide could be prepared using TiS instead of metallic Ti as well.