STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES OF A NEW COMPOUND AGTAS3

A new silver tantalum sulfide AgTaS3 was prepared by heating in a sealed silica tube at 500°C for 4 days. The X-ray powder diffraction patterns of AgTaS3 were indexed on the basis of an orthorhombic cell (space group Cmc21) with lattice constants of a = 3.3755(2) Å, b = 14.0608(11) Å, and c = 7.7486(7) Å. The measured density was 6.82(3) g cm-3, which is consistent with Z = 4. A structure model being built up with TaS3 chain blocks was proposed, and the refinement was performed using intensity data of X-ray powder diffraction. Electrical resistivity measurements show this material to be semiconducting. © 1992.