Solvothermal syntheses and characterization of one-dimensional (1,4-dabH2)Cu1.72Ag0.28SnSe4 (1) and (1,4-dabH2)Cu2SnSe4 (2)

Here, two seleniumstannates (1,4-dabH2)Cu1.72Ag0.28SnSe4 (1) and (1,4-dabH2)Cu2SnSe4 (2) (1,4-dab = 1,4-diaminobutane), were synthesized successfully via solvothermal method, and an organic amine as the structural directing agent. Two compounds have similar structures: inorganic anionic chains and doubly protonated [1,4-dabH2]2+ organic cations. In this work, single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA) are used to verify the above compounds, meanwhile, the optical and photoelectric properties were investigated, and the optical band gap is calculated as 2.43 and 2.46 eV, respectively. Furthermore, 1 and 2 exhibited photocurrent responses with photocurrent intensities of 3.83 & mu;A/cm2 and 1.54 & mu;A/cm2, respectively. Additionally, the compounds degrade methylene blue (MB).