Pressure induced metallization with absence of structural transition in layered MoSe2

Abstract

Layered transition-metal dichalcogenides have emerged as exciting material systems with atomically thin geometries and unique electronic properties. Pressure is a powerful tool for continuously tuning their crystal and electronic structures away from the pristine states. Here, we systematically investigated the pressurized behavior of MoSe2 up to ~ 60 GPa using multiple experimental techniques and ab -initio calculations. MoSe2 evolves from an anisotropic two-dimensional layered network to a three-dimensional structure without a structural transition, which is a complete contrast to MoS2. The role of the chalcogenide anions in stabilizing different layered patterns is underscored by our layer sliding calculations. MoSe2 possesses highly tunable transport properties under pressure, determined by the gradual narrowing of its band-gap followed by metallization. The continuous tuning of its electronic structure and band-gap in the range of visible light to infrared suggest possible energy-variable optoelectronics applications in pressurized transition-metal dichalcogenides.

Nature Communications in press

References in corpus (5)

• Two Dimensional Atomic Crystals
• Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides under electron irradiation: defect production and doping
• Generation and Electric Control of Spin-Coupled Valley Current in WSe2
• Unconventional Quantum Hall Effect and Tunable Spin Hall Effect in MoS2 Trilayers
• Sharp Raman Anomalies and Broken Adiabaticity at a Pressure Induced Transition from Band to Topological Insulator in Sb2Se3

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Large valley splitting in monolayer WS${}_2$ by proximity coupling to an insulating antiferromagnetic substrate
• Pressure-dependent Semiconductor to Semimetal and Lifshitz transitions in 2H-MoTe${}_2$: Raman and First-principles studies
• New High-Pressure Phases of MoSe${}_2$ and MoTe${}_2$
• Electron and thermal transport via Variable Range Hopping in MoSe${}_2$ single crystals