Synthesis of Layered Gold Tellurides AuSbTe and Au2Te3 and Their Semiconducting and Metallic Behavior

Emma A Pappas; Rong Zhang; Cheng Peng; Robert T Busch; Jian-Min Zuo; Thomas P Devereaux; Daniel P Shoemaker

doi:10.1021/acs.inorgchem.4c04625

Synthesis of Layered Gold Tellurides AuSbTe and Au₂Te₃ and Their Semiconducting and Metallic Behavior

Inorg Chem. 2025 Jan 22. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.4c04625. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Emma A Pappas^{1

2}, Rong Zhang^{3

4}, Cheng Peng³, Robert T Busch^{2

5}, Jian-Min Zuo^{2

5}, Thomas P Devereaux^{3

6}, Daniel P Shoemaker^{1

2

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.
² Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.
³ Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, United States.
⁴ Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States.
⁵ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.
⁶ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States.

PMID: 39841906
DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.4c04625

Abstract

Previous studies on natural samples of pampaloite (AuSbTe) revealed the crystal structure of a potentially cleavable and/or exfoliable material, while studies on natural and synthetic montbrayite (Sb-containing Au₂Te₃) claimed various chemical compositions for this low-symmetry compound. Few investigations of synthetic samples have been reported for both materials, leaving much of their chemical, thermal, and electronic characteristics unknown. Here, we investigate the stability, electronic properties, and synthesis of the gold antimony tellurides AuSbTe and Au_1.9Sb_0.46Te_2.64 (montbrayite). Differential thermal analysis and in situ powder X-ray diffraction revealed that AuSbTe is incongruently melting, while Au_1.9Sb_0.46Te_2.64 is congruently melting. Calculations of the band structures and four-point resistivity measurements showed that AuSbTe is a semiconductor and Au_1.9Sb_0.46Te_2.64 a metal. Various synthesis attempts confirmed the limited stable chemical composition of Au_1.9Sb_0.46Te_2.64, identified successful methods to synthesize both compounds, and highlighted the challenges associated with single-crystal synthesis of AuSbTe.