La5Cu6O4S7, a p-type material with high conductivity prepared using La2S3

Abstract A new layered oxysulfide La5Cu6O4S7, composed of anti-PbO-like [Cu2S2] slabs alternating with PbO-like [La10O8S2] slabs and exhibiting high p-type conductivity, was fabricated by solid-state reaction method using La2S3 and characterized for the first time. The compound exhibited optical band gap of 2.0 eV, p-type electrical conductivity of 2.17 S cm−1 at room temperature, and metallic-like conducting behavior in the range of 150–450 K. La5Cu6O4S7 has presented another new and feasible way in achieving high conductivity, only partly structure-distortion rather than acceptor-doping, for applicable p-type semiconductor.