A chalcogenide-cluster-based semiconducting nanotube array with oriented photoconductive behavior

The interesting physical and chemical properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have prompted the search for diverse inorganic nanotubes with different compositions to expand the number of available nanotechnology applications. Among these materials, crystalline inorganic nanotubes with well-defined structures and uniform sizes are suitable for understanding structure–activity relationships. However, their preparation comes with large synthetic challenges owing to their inherent complexity. Herein, we report the example of a crystalline nanotube array based on a supertetrahedral chalcogenide cluster, K3[K(Cu2Ge3Se9)(H2O)] (1). To the best of our knowledge, this nanotube array possesses the largest diameter of crystalline inorganic nanotubes reported to date and exhibits an excellent structure-dependent electric conductivity and an oriented photoconductive behavior. This work represents a significant breakthrough both in terms of the structure of cluster-based metal chalcogenides and in the conductivity of crystalline nanotube arrays (i.e., an enhancement of ~4 orders of magnitude).