Photoconductive Coordination Polymer with a Lead-Sulfur Two-Dimensional Coordination Sheet Structure.

Coordination polymers with metal-sulfur (M-S) bonds in their nodes have interesting optical properties and can be used as photocatalysts for water splitting. A wide range of inorganic-organic hybrid materials with M-S bonds have been prepared in recent years. However, there is a dearth of structural information because of their low crystallinity, which has hampered the understanding of their underlying chemistry and physics. Thus, we conducted a structural study of a novel, highly crystalline coordination polymer with M-S bonds. Theoretical calculations were performed to elucidate its photoconductivity mechanism. The photoconductive, three-dimensional coordination polymer [Pb(tadt)]n (denoted as KGF-9; tadt = 1,3,4-thiadiazole-2,5-dithiolate) was synthesized and confirmed to have a three-dimensional structure containing a two-dimensional Pb-S framework by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. We also performed diffuse-reflectance ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared spectroscopy, time-resolved microwave conductivity, and photoelectron yield spectroscopy measurements on the bulk powder samples, as well as first-principles calculations. Additionally, direct-current photoconductivity measurements were conducted on a single-crystal sample.