Synthesis, Structural Analysis, and Superconductivity of Ba<i>_x</i>V₆S₈

A nonstoichiometric ternary vanadium sulfide, BaxV6S8 (x = 0.41−0.48), was synthesized. This solid-state compound crystallizes in the hexagonal space group P63/m (no. 176) with a = 9.2080(3) Å, c = 3.3169(2) Å, V = 243.55(2) Å3, and Z = 1. The structure of this solid is similar to that of its parent compound V3S4, consisting of face-sharing, distorted octahedral VS6 units. A superconducting transition of the solid at approximately 2.5 K was observed. A computational analysis of the electronic structure using the extended Hückel method is presented.