The crystal structure of CuS has been studied by powder X-ray and neutron diffraction methods between 6 and 730 K. At room temperature the hexagonal structure was confirmed. At low temperature (~55 K) a second order phase transition takes place with a space group change from P6 3 /mmc to the "translationengleiche" subgroup Cmcm. This orthorhombic distortion causes only small, but significant changes in the Cu -S and S -S bonding distances. The most pronounced changes occur for the Cu-Cu distances, indicating metal-metal bond formation to be the main cause of the transition.
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