Tin-oxychalcogenide supertetrahedral clusters maintained in a MTN zeolite-analog arrangement by coulombic interactions

Abstract

Two crystalline salts, T3-SnOX-MTN (X = S/Se, MTN denotes a defined zeotype), both spatially assembled in an MTN net, have been fabricated. This was achieved by interlinking the isolated tin-oxychalcogenide tetrahedrally shaped clusters of T3-[Sn₁₀O₈X₁₆]⁸⁻ (X = S/Se) through coulombic interactions with protonated organic amine templates. T3-SnOX-MTN (X = S/Se), with 74.1/76.5 Å cubic unit-cell axial-lengths, have a proton-conductivity of over 10⁻³ S cm⁻¹ under 98% relative humidity at 50 °C.