Synthesis and Characterization of Modified LaTaS₃ Tubular Structures

Chalcogenide-based misfit layered compounds (MLC) are materials made of alternating monolayers of a compound with distorted rocksalt structure MX, like LaS, and a layer of hexagonal compound TX₂, like TaS₂, of the general formula [(MX)_1+x]_m[TX₂]_n with 0.08< x 2).¹

The synthesis of these compounds has been extensively studied¹ showing the possibility to obtain various crystal structures composed of the transition metal sulphides of the group 4, 5 and 6 in combination with lanthanides, p-block metals and alkali-earth metals sulphides, like SrS.

Recently, various MLC nanotubes² have been produced by means of high-temperature reactions in the presence of metal chlorine as a catalyst, obtaining a wide range of tubular structures with many potential applications in different fields such as optics, electronics and mechanics at the nanoscale.

The fundamental properties of MLC nanotubes are expected to be sensitive to their composition that can be finely tuned by the selective incorporation of heteroatoms in each of the different sublattices.

In this context, we present a part of an extensive structural study based on LaS-TaS₃ MLC nanotubes³ that have been used as a model to study the progressive incorporation of heteroatoms such as Nb, W, Hf, Sr and mixtures of lanthanides that have not been reported in the literature previously.

These results provide a wide range of new materials, spacing from doped to mixed structures, whose properties will be studied in the future providing information on the stability and the characteristic of MLC nanotubes.

1. G.A. Wiegers Solid St. Chem. 1996 DOI: 10.1016/0079-6786(95)00007-0

2. B. Višić, L. Panchakarla, R. Tenne J. Am. Chem Soc. 2017 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b01652.

3. G. Radovsky, R. Popovitz-Biro, T. Lorenz, J. Joswig, G. Seifert, L. Houben,R. E. Dunin-Borkowski, R. Tenne1 J. Mater. Chem. C 2016 DOI: 10.1039/c5tc02983j