High-Pressure Effects on Electronic Properties of Two-Dimensional Materials

Two-dimensional materials exhibit remarkable electronic behaviour that can be finely tuned by the application of high pressure. By compressing the crystal lattice, researchers can manipulate interlayer distances, alter bonding characteristics and reshape electronic band structures. Such pressure-induced modifications often result in band-gap narrowing or closure, emergence of novel charge transport regimes and the onset of superconductivity. Experimental platforms such as the diamond anvil cell provide access to pressures of tens or hundreds of gigapascals, enabling unrivalled insight into phase transitions, charge-carrier mobility and electron correlations in graphene derivatives, transition-metal dichalcogenides, phosphorenes and related layered compounds. This approach has profound implications for the development of next-generation electronic devices, pressure-tuneable sensors and energy-efficient systems, offering a pathway to design materials with bespoke electronic functionalities across a broad range of applications.

Research from Nature Portfolio

High-pressure synchrotron studies of WSe2 have revealed an iso-structural transition driven by layer sliding at pressures above 28 GPa, leading to a gradual metallisation as in-plane strain dominates over out-of-plane compression. Investigations of MoSe2 up to 60 GPa have demonstrated continuous band-gap narrowing without structural transformation, enabling highly tuneable electronic transport and potential energy-variable optoelectronic applications. A valence-skipping mechanism under pressure in a van der Waals insulator transformed cations to a higher oxidation state, inducing a quasi-two-dimensional superconducting state with a critical temperature near 10 K and Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless-like behaviour in thin samples.

High-Pressure Effects on Electronic Properties of Two-Dimensional Materials publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in high-pressure effects on electronic properties of two-dimensional materials across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Band gap: The energy difference between the valence band and conduction band in a semiconductor.

Metallisation: The process by which a material transitions from an insulating or semiconducting state to a metallic state under pressure.

Diamond anvil cell: A high-pressure device that compresses small samples between two diamond tips to achieve gigapascal pressures.

Electron–phonon coupling: The interaction between electrons and lattice vibrations that can mediate superconductivity.

Van der Waals interactions: Weak forces between layers in 2D materials that can be modified under pressure.

Valence skipping: A phenomenon where an element’s oxidation state changes discontinuously, affecting electronic structure under pressure.

References

1. 2D Materials and Heterostructures at Extreme Pressure. Advanced Science (2020).
2. Pressure-induced iso-structural phase transition and metallization in WSe2. Scientific Reports (2017).
3. Pressure induced metallization with absence of structural transition in layered molybdenum diselenide. Nature Communications (2015).
4. Valence-skipping and quasi-two-dimensionality of superconductivity in a van der Waals insulator. Nature Communications (2022).
5. Pressure‐Enhanced Superconductivity and Structural Phase Transition in Layered Sn4P3. Small Structures (2024).
6. Low resistance electrical contacts to few-layered MoS2 by local pressurization. 2D Materials (2023).
7. Structural phase transition and superconductivity hierarchy in 1T-TaS2 under pressure up to 100 GPa. npj Quantum Materials (2021).