Pressure‐Induced Metallization and Robust Superconductivity in Pristine 1T‐SnSe₂

Abstract

Band engineering in layered metal dichalcogenides leads to a variety of physical phenomena and has obtained considerable attention recently. In this work, pressure‐induced metallization and superconductivity in pristine 1T‐SnSe2 is reported via electrical transport and synchrotron X‐ray diffraction experiments. Electrical transport results show that the metallization emerges above 15.2 GPa followed by appearance of superconducting transition at 18.6 GPa. The superconductivity is robust with a nearly constant Tc ≈ 6.1 K between 30.1 and 50.3 GPa. High‐pressure synchrotron X‐ray diffraction experiments indicate that the 1T‐SnSe2 phase maintains up to 46.0 GPa. Although the theoretical predicted structural transition and decomposition of SnSe2 into Sn3Se4 and Se are not detected, it is argued that the structural instability under high pressure might be crucial for the superconductivity. These findings demonstrate that 1T‐SnSe2 is a very rare system from which superconductivity can be driven via multiple ways.

Pressure-induced metallization in MoSe2 under different pressure conditions

“…In addition, a series of representative selenides with similar layered structures (e.g., InSe, GaSe, ReSe 2 and SnSe 2 ) have also been reported to undergo the phase transition of metallization under high pressure, and therefore, the pressure-induced metallization maybe widely existing in most of selenides. [31][32][33][34]…”

Versatile Crystal Structures and (Opto)electronic Applications of the 2D Metal Mono‐, Di‐, and Tri‐Chalcogenide Nanosheets

“…[7,14b,197] Some 2D metal chalcogenides exhibit natural superconductivity. [23b,198] High pressure can also induce superconductivity in pristine SnSe 2 . Moreover, charge density waves usually exist in these 2D metal chalcogenides with superconductivity.…”

Pressure-engineered optical properties and emergent superconductivity in chalcopyrite semiconductor ZnSiP2

“…As one of the fundamental state parameters, pressure is an effective and clean way to tune the lattice constant, crystal structure, and electronic state, thus varying the fundamental physical properties of materials. Regarding the pressure engineering of photovoltaic and optoelectronic materials, various exotic phenomena have been revealed recently, including photoluminescence (PL) emission enhancement, prolonged carrier lifetime, bandgap optimization, and superconductivity [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] . For the photovoltaic material ZnSiP 2 , Bhadram et al 22 reported that it undergoes a phase transition from tetragonal to cubic rock-salt structure between 27 and 30 GPa, in agreement with the ab initio investigations 23 .…”