Open Access

Martin J. Schäfer, Florian Fleischmann, Henning A. Höppe

• Two new hexafluorogermanate dihydrates, viz. SrGeF6 ⋅ 2H2O and CaGeF6 ⋅ 2H2O, were synthesised from aqueous solutions; their crystal structures were refined in space group P21/n (SrGeF6 ⋅ 2H2O: a=5.9605(2) Å, b=9.6428(3) Å, a=10.9866(3) Å and β=99.1590(10), Z=4, 5122 refl., 104 param., R1=0.0195, wR2=0.0470; CaGeF6 ⋅ 2H2O: a=5.8472(5) Å, b=10.5099(9) Å, c=9.6267(9) Å and β=103.521(3), Z=4, 4756 refl., 101 param., R1=0.0224, wR2=0.0616). Upon doping with Eu2+ luminescence in the NUV regime was observed. The crystal structures of CaGeF6 and MgGeF6 could be solved and refined via Rietveld refinement from powder samples gained by thermal decomposition of the respective hydrates; both compounds adopt the LiSbF6 structure type (CaGeF6: a=5.4099(5) Å, c=13.9835(13) Å, Z=3, Rwp=0.0291, RBragg=0.0142; MgGeF6: a=5.1219(2) Å, c=13.0851(7), Z=3, Rwp=0.034, RBragg=0.01). Further, the luminescence of MgGeF6 ⋅ 6H2O:Eu2+, which emits light in the violet to blue regime, is reported.