Fig. 4: Crystal structures, Ag–Ag motifs and optical properties of all three benzenechalcogenolates.
From: Chemical crystallography by serial femtosecond X-ray diffraction
a–c, Suspended microcrystals of thiorene (a), mithrene (b) and tethrene (c) show their respective milky white, yellow and deep orange colours. d–f, Side and top views of crystal structures from smSFX for thiorene (d), mithrene (e) and tethrene (f). Thermal ellipsoids for Ag (blue), S (yellow), Se (orange) and Te (magenta) are drawn at the 50% probability level. Hydrogen atoms and one position of disordered C6H5 (for mithrene) are omitted for clarity. g–i, Models of thiorene (g), mithrene (h) and tethrene (i) with the view oriented down the c axis of the unit cell, with the carbon and hydrogen atoms omitted, displaying the divergence in the thiorene Ag–Ag bonding environment compared to that in mithrene and tethrene. j, Photoluminescence spectra of mithrene and tethrene under 467-nm excitation. Mithrene displays a sharp photoluminescence peak at approximately 2.7 eV; tethrene displays a broadband photoluminescence peak in the approximate range 1.5–2.4 eV. No photoluminescence is observed for thiorene. k, Time-dependent photoluminescence for mithrene and tethrene, with lifetimes of 50 ps and 1 ns respectively. IRF, instrument response function.
