Molten Salt Synthesis, Crystal Structure and Optical Properties of a Novel Quaternary Metal Selenide, K2AgIn3Se6

K2AgIn3Se6 was synthesized by a molten-salt (alkali-metal polyselenide flux) reaction at 500 ℃. The orange red granular crystal crystallizes in monoclinic space group C2/c with cell parameters, a=1.16411(7) nm, b=1.16348(8) nm, c=2.14179(12) nm, V=2.8740(9) nm^3, and Z=8. The crystal has a new two-dimensional structure containing ^2∞[AgIn3Se6]^2- anionic layers separated by K^- cations and the ^2∞[AgIn3Se6]^2- layer is constructed with corner-shared [AgSe4] and [InSe4] tetrahedra. The optical band gap of K2AgIn3Se6 was determined to be ca. 2.9 eV by UV/vis/NIR diffuse reflectance spectra.