High Pressure Structural Behavior of Silicon Telluride (Si2Te3) Nanoplates

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Abstract
The high-pressure behavior of silicon telluride (Si2Te3), a two-dimensional (2D) layered material, was investigated using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction in a diamond anvil cell to 11.5 GPa coupled with first-principles theory. Si2Te3 undergoes a phase transition at < 1 GPa from a trigonal to a hexagonal crystal structure. At higher pressures (> 8.5 GPa), X-ray diffraction showed the appearance of new peaks possibly coincident with a new phase transition, though we suspect Si2Te3 retains a hexagonal structure. Density functional theory calculations of the band structure reveal metallization above 9.1 GPa consistent with previous measurements of the Raman spectra and disappearance of color and transparency at pressure. The theoretical Raman spectra reproduce the prominent features of the experiment, though a deeper analysis suggests that the orientation of Si dimers dramatically influences the vibrational response. Given the complex structure of Si2Te3, simulation of the resulting high-pressure phase is complicated by disordered vacancies and the initial orientations of Si-Si dimers in the crushed layered phase.
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