The crystal structure of Fe2In2Se5, a FeIn2Se4-related polytype

Fe₂In₂Se₅, a polytype of FeIn₂Se₄ (a material belonging to the II □ III₂ VI₄ family of semiconducting compounds) has been synthesized by conventional solid-state reaction of their constituent elements. The product of the reaction was sequentially used as starting material in the crystal growth process carried out by chemical transport using I₂ as transporting agent. The crystal structure of a new polytype of this compound was determined using single crystal techniques with data collected with a CCD-based diffractometer. The successful indexing of the data and refinement of the structure led to an hexagonal unit cell with a=4.0371(4) and c=32.746(4) Å. Although the absorption effect in the data was quite noticeable, because of the layered morphology exhibited by the material, a good agreement was obtained for a structural model similar to the structure reported for a related polytype belonging to the ZnIn₂S₄ system.