Sr3P3N7: Complementary Approach by Ammonothermal and High-Pressure Syntheses

Abstract

Nitridophosphates exhibit an intriguing structural diversity with different structural motifs, for example, chains, layers or frameworks. In this contribution the novel nitridophosphate Sr3P3N7 with unprecedented dreier double chains is presented. Crystalline powders were synthesized using the ammonothermal method, while single crystals were obtained by a high-pressure multianvil technique. The crystal structure of Sr3P3N7 was solved and refined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction and confirmed by powder X-ray methods. Sr3P3N7 crystallizes in monoclinic space group P2/c. Energy-dispersive X-ray and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy were conducted to confirm the chemical composition, as well as the absence of NHx functionality. The optical band gap was estimated to be 4.4 eV using diffuse reflectance UV/Vis spectroscopy. Upon doping with Eu2+, Sr3P3N7 shows a broad deep-red to infrared emission (λem=681 nm, fwhm≈3402 cm−1) with an internal quantum efficiency of 42 %.