Syntheses, structures, physical properties, and electronic structures of KLn2CuS4 (Ln=Y, Nd, Sm, Tb, Ho) and K2Ln4Cu4S9 (Ln=Dy, Ho)

Seven new quaternary metal sulfides, KY₂CuS₄, KNd₂CuS₄, KSm₂CuS₄, KTb₂CuS₄, KHo₂CuS₄, K₂Dy₄Cu₄S₉, and K₂Ho₄Cu₄S₉, were prepared by the reactive flux method. All crystallographic data were collected at 153 K. The isostructural compounds KLn₂CuS₄ (Ln=Y, Nd, Sm, Tb, Ho) crystallize in space group Cmcm of the orthorhombic system with four formula units in cells of dimensions (Ln, a, b, c (Å)): Y, 3.9475(9), 13.345(3), 13.668(3); Nd, 4.0577(3), 13.7442(10), 13.9265(10); Sm, 4.0218(4), 13.6074(14), 13.8264(14); Tb, 3.9679(5), 13.4243(17), 13.7102(18); Ho, 3.9378(3), 13.3330(11), 13.6487(11). The corresponding R₁ indices for the refined structures are 0.0197, 0.0153, 0.0158, 0.0181, and 0.0178. The isostructural compounds K₂Dy₄Cu₄S₉ and K₂Ho₄Cu₄S₉ crystallize in space group C2/m of the monoclinic system with two formula units in cells of dimensions (Ln, a, b, c (Å), β (°)): Dy, 13.7061(13), 3.9482(4), 15.8111(15), 109.723(1); Ho, 13.6760(14), 3.9360(4), 15.7950 (16), 109.666(2). The corresponding R₁ indices are 0.0312 and 0.0207. Both structure types are closely related three-dimensional tunnel structures. The tunnels are filled with bicapped trigonal-prismatically coordinated K atoms. Their anionic frameworks are built from LnS₆ octahedra and CuS₄ tetrahedra. KLn₂CuS₄ contains _∞¹CuS₃⁵⁻] chains of vertex-sharing tetrahedra and K₂Ln₄Cu₄S₉ contains _∞¹Cu₄S₈¹²⁻] chains of tetrahedra. K₂Ho₄Cu₄S₉ shows Curie-Weiss paramagnetic behavior between 5 and 300 K, and has an effective magnetic moment of 10.71 μ_B for Ho³⁺ at 293 K. Optical band gaps of 2.17 eV for KSm₂CuS₄ and 2.43 eV for K₂Ho₄Cu₄S₉ were deduced from diffuse reflectance spectra. A first-principles calculation of the density of states and the frequency-dependent optical conductivity was performed on KSm₂CuS₄. The calculated band gap of 2.1 eV is in good agreement with the experimental value.