Unraveling the Crystal Structures of AgCh (Ch = S, Se, Te) via Simultaneous X-Ray Diffraction and Total Scattering.

Despite great interest in the properties of the AgCh (Ch = S, Se, Te) compounds, their complex crystal structures, envisioned as a disordered liquid-like Ag substructure, are poorly understood. This limits our understanding of the structural origin of their attractive properties. From combined powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and X-ray total scattering (TS) in the temperature range of 300-800 K, the average and local structures for all three AgCh compounds have been probed simultaneously for both the room-temperature (RT) and first high-temperature (HT) polymorphs.