Room temperature synthesis of thallium chalcogenides in ammonia and n-butylamine

Abstract

A range of crystalline thallium chalcogenides have been prepared by direct combination of the elements at room temperature in liquid ammonia (Tl[TlS2], Tl[TlSe2], Tl2Se, Tl5Se3, Tl5Te3 and (TlAgTe)) and n-butylamine (Tl[TlE2]; E = S, Se) solvents. Solvent mediated metathesis reactions in liquid ammonia of TlCl with stoichiometric amounts of sodium chalcogenide (Na2E, E = S, Se, Te) afforded a range of thallium chalcogenides (Tl[TlE2], E = S, Se; Tl5Te3) in addition to co-produced salt. Washing of the sub-micrometer, aggregated product mixture with water enabled isolation of crystalline binary chalcogenides in good yield. Products from both the elemental and metathesis reactions were characterised by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive analysis by X-rays (EDXA), electron probe analysis and infra-red spectroscopy (IR).