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Updated: May 11, 2026

From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
Semiconducting [(Bi4Te4Br2)(Al2Cl(6-x)Br(x))]Cl2 and [Bi2Se2Br](AlCl4): cationic chalcogenide frameworks from Lewis
Kanishka Biswas1, In Chung, Jung-Hwan Song
1Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University , Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States.
Abstract:
Lewis acidic organic ionic liquids provide a novel synthetic medium to prepare new semiconducting chalcogenides, [(Bi4Te4Br2)(Al2Cl5.46Br0.54)]Cl2 (1) and [Bi2Se2Br](AlCl4) (2). Compound 1 features a cationic [(Bi4Te4Br2)(Al2Cl5.46Br0.54)](2+) three-dimensional framework, while compound 2 consists of cationic layers of [Bi2Se2Br](2+). Spectroscopically measured band gaps of 1 and 2 are ∼0.6 and ∼1.2 eV, respectively. Thermoelectric power measurements of single crystals of 1 indicate an n-type semiconductor.
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