Multifunctional inorganic materials have recently attracted increasingly attention for their potential applications with various properties. Note that some of infrared (IR) nonlinear optical (NLO) materials exhibit not only outstanding NLO properties but also other physicochemical properties. Thus, to explore the excellent multifunctional inorganic materials has developed as an important research direction.  

Overall document surveys showed that some of IR NLO materials containing the cations with d¹⁰ configuration have shown potential nonlinear optical activity and thermochromism properties. A research group led by Prof. PAN Shilie at Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics & Chemistry（XTIPC）of Chinese Academy of Sciences focused on the exploration of metal sulfides containing the cations with d¹⁰ configuration (such as Cd²⁺) and synthesized two metal sulfides (BaCdSnS₄ and Ba₃CdSn₂S₈) by the solid-state method.  

Researchers measured the crystal structures of BaCdSnS₄ and Ba₃CdSn₂S₈ by the single-crystal X-ray crystallography technology. BaCdSnS₄ crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Fdd2, whereas the Ba₃CdSn₂S₈ crystallizes in the space group I-43d. A comparison of their crystal structures shows that they have different structures. Ba₃CdSn₂S₈ has a three-dimensional framework that composed of the interconnection of CdS₄ and SnS₄ groups, which is different from the 2D layer structure in BaCdSnS₄. 

By investigating NLO properties, researchers found BaCdSnS₄ and Ba₃CdSn₂S₈ have good powder second-harmonic generation (SHG) intensities at 2.09 μm laser pumping that are ～5 and 0.8 times that of AgGaS₂ in the particle size 38–55 μm, respectively, which indicates that they can be used as the promising IR NLO materials. Moreover, photoluminescence measurements also show that they exhibit the blue and green emission peaks at 485 and 530 nm and can be expected as the light emitter optical devices.  

The study was published in Dalton Trans., which provides a feasible method to prepare new promising multifunctional inorganic materials by introducing the d¹⁰ elements. 

This work was supported by the Special Fund for Xinjiang Key Laboratories, Natural Science Foundation of Xinjiang, National Natural Science Foundation of China. 

Figure:The SHG intensities of the title compounds versus AgGaS₂ and Photoluminescence emission spectra of BaCdSnS₄ and Ba₃CdSn₂S₈.（Image by XTIPC）

Contact:

Prof.PAN Shilie

E-mail:slpan@ms.xjb.ac.cn

Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics & Chemistry,CAS