Selected members of the A2B3 (A = Sb, Bi; B = Se, Te) family are topological insulators. The Sb2Se3 compound does not exhibit any topological properties at ambient conditions; a recent high-pressure study, however, indicated that pressure transforms Sb2Se3 from a band insulator into a topological insulator above ~2 GPa; in addition, three structural transitions were proposed to occur up to 25 GPa. Partly motivated by these results, we have performed x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy investigations on Sb2Se3 under pressure up to 65 GPa. We have identified only one reversible structural transition: the initial Pnma structure transforms into a disordered cubic bcc alloy above 51 GPa. On the other hand, our high-pressure Raman study did not reproduce the previous results; we attribute the discrepancies to the effects of the different pressure transmitting media used in the high-pressure experiments. We discuss the structural behavior of Sb2Se3 within the A2B3 (A = Sb, Bi; B = Se, Te) series.
We have conducted high-pressure x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopic studies on the CdCr 2 Se 4 spinel at room temperature up to 42 GPa. We have resolved three structural transitions up to 42 GPa, i.e. the starting Fd3 m phase transforms at ~11 GPa into a tetragonal I4 1 /amd structure, an orthorhombic distortion was observed at ~15 GPa, whereas structural disorder initiates beyond 25 GPa. Our ab initio DFT studies successfully reproduced the observed crystalline-to-crystalline structural transitions. In addition, our calculations propose an anti-ferromagnetic ordering as a potential magnetic ground state for the high-pressure tetragonal and orthorhombic modifications, as compared to the starting ferromagnetic phase. Furthermore, the computational results indicate that all phases remain insulating in their stability pressure range, with a direct-to-indirect band gap transition for the Fd3 m phase taking place at 5 GPa.We attempted also to offer an explanation behind the peculiar first-order character of the Fd3 m (cubic)→I4 1 /amd (tetragonal) transition observed for several relevant Cr-spinels, i.e. the sizeable volume change at the transition point, which is not expected from space group symmetry considerations. We detected a clear correlation between the cubic-tetragonal transition pressures and the next-nearest-neighbor magnetic exchange interactions for the Crbearing sulphide and selenide members, a strong indication that the cubic-tetragonal transitions in these systems are principally governed by magnetic effects.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.