The indium chalcogenides include all
compounds of
indium with the
chalcogen elements,
oxygen,
sulfur,
selenium and
tellurium. (
Polonium is excluded as little is known about its compounds with indium). The best-characterised compounds are the In(III) and In(II) chalcogenides e.g. the sulfides
In2S3 and
InS.
This group of compounds has attracted a lot of research attention because they include
semiconductors,
photovoltaics and
phase-change materials. In many applications indium chalcogenides are used as the basis of ternary and quaternary compounds such as
indium tin oxide, ITO and
copper indium gallium selenide, CIGS.
Some compounds that were reported and have found their way into text books have not been substantiated by later researchers. The list of compounds below shows compounds that have been reported, and those compounds that have not had their structure determined, or whose existence has not been confirmed by the latest structural investigations, are in italics.
oxide | sulfide | selenide | telluride |
---|---|---|---|
In2O | In2Se | ||
In4S3 | In4Se3 | In4Te3 | |
In5S4 | |||
InS | InSe | InTe | |
In6S7 | In6Se7 | ||
In3S4 | In3Te4 | ||
In7Te10 | |||
In2O3 | In2S3 | In2Se3 | In2Te3 |
In3Te5 | |||
In2Te5 |
There are a lot of compounds, the reason for this being that indium can be present as
The compound In2Te5 is a
polytelluride containing the Te2−
3 unit.
None of the indium chalcogenides can be described simply as ionic in nature, they all involve a degree of covalent bonding. However, in spite of this it is useful to formulate the compounds in ionic terms to get an insight into how the structures are built up. Compounds almost invariably have multiple polymorphs, that is they can crystallise in slightly different forms depending on either the method of production, or the substrate upon which they are deposited. Many of the compounds are made up of layers, and it is the different ways that the layers are stacked that is a cause of polymorphism.
The indium chalcogenides include all
compounds of
indium with the
chalcogen elements,
oxygen,
sulfur,
selenium and
tellurium. (
Polonium is excluded as little is known about its compounds with indium). The best-characterised compounds are the In(III) and In(II) chalcogenides e.g. the sulfides
In2S3 and
InS.
This group of compounds has attracted a lot of research attention because they include
semiconductors,
photovoltaics and
phase-change materials. In many applications indium chalcogenides are used as the basis of ternary and quaternary compounds such as
indium tin oxide, ITO and
copper indium gallium selenide, CIGS.
Some compounds that were reported and have found their way into text books have not been substantiated by later researchers. The list of compounds below shows compounds that have been reported, and those compounds that have not had their structure determined, or whose existence has not been confirmed by the latest structural investigations, are in italics.
oxide | sulfide | selenide | telluride |
---|---|---|---|
In2O | In2Se | ||
In4S3 | In4Se3 | In4Te3 | |
In5S4 | |||
InS | InSe | InTe | |
In6S7 | In6Se7 | ||
In3S4 | In3Te4 | ||
In7Te10 | |||
In2O3 | In2S3 | In2Se3 | In2Te3 |
In3Te5 | |||
In2Te5 |
There are a lot of compounds, the reason for this being that indium can be present as
The compound In2Te5 is a
polytelluride containing the Te2−
3 unit.
None of the indium chalcogenides can be described simply as ionic in nature, they all involve a degree of covalent bonding. However, in spite of this it is useful to formulate the compounds in ionic terms to get an insight into how the structures are built up. Compounds almost invariably have multiple polymorphs, that is they can crystallise in slightly different forms depending on either the method of production, or the substrate upon which they are deposited. Many of the compounds are made up of layers, and it is the different ways that the layers are stacked that is a cause of polymorphism.