Pressure-driven structural phase transitions and metallization in the two-dimensional ferromagnetic semiconductor CrBr 3 .
Meiling HongLidong DaiHaiying HuXinyu ZhangChuang LiYu HePublished in: Dalton transactions (Cambridge, England : 2003) (2023)
High-pressure structural, magnetic and electrical transport characteristics of CrBr 3 were synthetically investigated using Raman scattering, electrical conductivity, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and first-principles theoretical calculations during compression and decompression under different hydrostatic conditions. Upon pressurization, CrBr 3 underwent a second-order structural transition at 9.5 GPa, followed by the semiconductor-to-metal and magnetic switching at 25.9 GPa under non-hydrostatic conditions, whereas, an obvious pressure hysteresis of ∼3.0 GPa was detected in the occurrence of structural transitions and metallization under hydrostatic conditions due to the deviatoric stress. Upon decompression, the structural and electronic transitions of CrBr 3 under different hydrostatic conditions were of good reversibility with a considerable pressure sluggishness of ∼5.0 GPa, which was corroborated well by the microstructural observation with HRTEM. Our systematic high-pressure investigation on CrBr 3 not only reveals its underlying application in spintronic, magnetic and electronic devices but also advances the understanding of the physicochemical behaviors for 2D magnetic materials.