The crystal structure of novel silver sulphogermanate Ag10Ge3S11

Highlights: •Ag10Ge3S11 single crystal was synthesized. •The crystal structure was studied in detail by X-ray diffraction. •The structure is a packing of twin [Ge2S7]6− and single tetrahedra [GeS4]4-. •The studied crystal has potential applications as photoinduced materials. -- Abstract: The Ag10Ge3S11 compound was synthesized by melting the calculated amounts of elements in evacuated quartz ampoules at 1170 K. The crystal structure of the compound was determined by the single crystal technique; it is a representative of its own structural type. The compound crystallizes in a non-centrosymmetric space group Cc with unit cell parameters a = 2.6244(4), b = 0.65020(5), c = 2.5083(4) nm, β = 109.910(1)°. The Ag10Ge3S11 structure may be described as a packing of the fragments composed of two twin [Ge2S7]6− and two single tetrahedra [GeS4]4−. The Ag atoms are situated in the tunnels formed by these fragments. The relationship with the similar structures is discussed