Tungsten(VI) selenide tetrachloride, WSeCl₄ - synthesis, properties, coordination complexes and application of [WSeCl₄(SenBu₂)] for CVD growth of WSe₂ thin films

Abstract

WSeCl4 was obtained in good yield by heating WCl6 and Sb2Se3in vacuo. Green crystals grown by sublimation were shown by single crystal X-ray structure analysis to contain square pyramidal monomers with apical WSe, and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) analysis confirmed this to be the only form present in the bulk sample. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations using the B3LYP-D3 functional replicated the structure, identified the key bonding orbitals, and were used to aid assignment of the IR spectrum of WSeCl4. Reaction of WSeCl4 with ligands L gave [WSeCl4(L)] (L = MeCN, DMF, thf, py, OPPh3, 2,2′-bipy, SeMe2, SenBu2), whilst the dimers [(WSeCl4)2(μ-L-L)] were formed with L-L = Ph2P(O)CH2P(O)Ph2, 1,4-dioxane and 4,4′-bipyridyl. The complexes were characterised by microanalysis, IR and 1H NMR spectroscopy, and single crystal X-ray structures determined for [WSeCl4(L)] (L = OPPh3, MeCN, DMF) and [(WSeCl4)2(μ-L-L)] (L-L = 1,4-dioxane, 4,4′-bipyridyl). All except the 2,2′-bipy complex, which is probably seven-coordinate, contain six-coordinate tungsten with the neutral donor trans to WSe. Alkylphosphines, including PMe3 and PEt3, decompose WSeCl4 upon contact, forming phosphine selenides (SePR3). In contrast, the selenoether complexes [WSeCl4(SeMe2)] and [WSeCl4(SenBu2)] were isolated and characterised. The crystal structure of the minor W(vi) by-product, [(WSeCl4)2(μ-SeMe2)], was determined and using SMe2, a few crystals of the W(v) species, [{WCl3(SMe2)}2(μ-Se)(μ-Se2)], were obtained and structurally characterised. The isolated W(vi) complexes are compared with those of WOCl4 and WSCl4 and the combination of experimental and computational data are consistent with WSeCl4 being a weaker Lewis acid and its complexes significantly less stable than those of the lighter analogues, especially in solution. Low pressure chemical vapour deposition (LPCVD) using [WSeCl4(SenBu2)] in the range 660-700 °C (0.1 mmHg) produced highly reflective thin films, which were identified to be WSe2 by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman spectroscopy. XRD analysis of the thinner films revealed them to be highly oriented in the <00l> direction. This journal is

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