Fig. 1

Crystal structure of α-Ag2S. a Structure with ELF (at the value of 0.65) along a–b plane highlighting the Ag–S sub-layers. b Structure along b–c plane. c Structure along a–c plane. d Ag–S framework highlighting the distorted octagon consisted of 4 × Ag and 4 × S atoms. In Fig. 1a–c, the black quadrangle line shows the unit cell of α-Ag2S, and the dashed red line highlights the mirror symmetry plane which can act as a twin boundary