N4H9Cu7S4: a hydrazinium-based salt with a layered Cu7S4- framework

Crystals of a hydrazinium-based copper(I) sulfide salt, N4H9Cu7S4 (1), have been isolated by an ambient temperature solution-based process. In contrast to previously reported hydrazinium salts of main-group metal chalcogenides, which consist of isolated metal chalcogenide anions, and ACu7S4 (A = NH4+, Rb+, Tl+, K+), which contains a more three-dimensional Cu7S4- framework with partial Cu-site occupancy, the structure of 1 P21, a = 6.8621(4) A, b = 7.9851(4) A, c = 10.0983(5) A, beta = 99.360(1) degrees , Z = 2] is composed of extended two-dimensional Cu7S4- slabs with full Cu-site occupancy. The Cu7S4- slabs are separated by a mixture of hydrazinium and hydrazine moieties. Thermal decomposition of 1 into copper(I) sulfide proceeds at a significantly lower temperature than that observed for analogous hydrazinium salts of previously considered metal chalcogenides, completing the transition at temperatures as low as 120 degrees C. Solutions of 1 may be used in the solution deposition of a range of Cu-containing chalcogenide films.