Flux Syntheis and Properties of New Crystalline and Glassy Chalcogenides

该项目的目标是合成和表征金属硫代磷酸盐和硒代磷酸盐家族的新型固态材料。金属硫代磷酸盐和硒代磷酸盐显示出非常丰富的化学成分，其基础是阴离子，这些阴离子是通过简单的原位融合在铜磷酸盐通量中形成的，它们是基本的结构构建块。有待探索的领域包括不含碱金属的三元金属和稀土金属硫代磷酸盐和硒代磷酸盐、相应的碱金属四元衍生物以及由这些材料加工形成的玻璃。还将探索硫砷酸盐和硒酸盐的通量，以发现相应的砷化合物。新材料的表征将包括单晶x射线散射方法的结构测定和物理性质的测量，如光学吸收、热行为和电导率。用对分布函数（PDF）分析来探讨玻璃的结构。熔融碱性聚硫代磷酸盐和聚硒代磷酸盐作为本项目的反应溶剂，将通过核磁共振波谱进行研究，以了解在硫代磷酸盐助熔剂中形成的阴离子的特性、分布和化学性质。最终，我们希望控制合成目标化合物中特定构建块的稳定性和掺入。这个研究项目的最终目标是提高我们对硫族化合物的化学知识，使化学更可控和可预测，从而可以设计有用的新材料。这个项目有很强的教育成分，旨在教育学生固态合成的高级学科，包括非氧化物材料的发现和最新的实验室技术。具有新成分和结构的新型固态材料的发现，以及对其化学行为和物理性质（如光学和电子行为）的理解对工业非常重要。例如，金属-硫代磷酸盐和-硒代磷酸盐的玻璃版本显示出可控的非晶态到晶体的相变，并且可能具有存储存储应用的潜力。在这些领域受过训练的学生可以很好地利用当前和未来的学术和工业工作机会。

The goal of this project is to synthesize and characterize new solid-state materials in the metal thiophosphate and selenophosphate families. The metal thiophosphate and selenophosphates show a very rich chemistry that is based on anions that form in chalcophosphate fluxes by simple in-situ fusion, and these act as fundamental structural building blocks. Areas to be explored include alkali metal-free ternary metal-and rare-earth-metal- thiophosphates and selenophosphates, corresponding alkali metal quaternary derivatives and also glasses formed from the manipulation of these materials. Thioarsenate and selenoarsenate fluxes will also be explored to discover corresponding arsenic compounds. Characterization of the new materials will include structural determinations by single-crystal X-ray scattering methods and the measurement of physical properties such as optical absorption, thermal behavior and electrical conductivity. The structure of glasses will be probed with pair distribution function (PDF) analysis. The molten alkali poly-thiophosphate and poly-selenophosphate salts, which are the reactive solvents in this project, will be studied by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy in order to understand the identity, distribution, and chemistry of the anions that form in chalcophosphate fluxes. Eventually we wish to control the stabilization and incorporation of specified building blocks in synthetic target compounds. The ultimate goal of this research project is to enhance our knowledge of the chemistry of chalcogenides and render the chemistry more controllable and predictable so useful new materials can be designed. This project has a very strong education component that aims to educate students in the advanced subject of solid state synthesis including non-oxide materials discovery and novel state-of the-art laboratory techniques.The discovery of new classes of solid state materials with novel composition and structure, as well as an understanding of their chemical behavior and physical properties such as optical and electronic behavior are important to industry. For example, the glass versions of the metal-thiophosphate and -selenophosphates show controllable amorphous to crystal phase changes and may have potential for memory storage applications. Students trained in these areas are well poised to exploit current and future academic and industrial job opportunities.