Anomalous phase transition behavior in hydrothermal grown layered tellurene

Recent studies have demonstrated that tellurene is a van der Waals (vdW) two-dimensional material with potential optoelectronic and thermoelectric applications as a result of its pseudo-one-dimensional structure and properties. Here, we report on the pressure induced anomalous phase transition of tellurium nanoribbons. The observation of clean phase transitions was made possible with high quality single crystalline Te nanoribbons that are synthesized by hydrothermal reaction growth. The results show that phase transition has a large pressure hysteresis and multiple competing phases: during compression, the phase transition is sudden and takes place from trigonal to orthorhombic phase at 6.5 GPa. Orthorhombic phase remains stable up to higher pressures (15 GPa). In contrast, phase transition is not sudden during decompression, but orthorhombic and trigonal phases co-exist between 6.9 to 3.4 GPa. Grüneisen parameter calculations further confirm the presence of co-existing phases and suggest hysteretic phase change behavior. Finally, orthorhombic to trigonal phase transition occurs at 3.4 GPa which means overall pressure hysteresis is around 3.1 GPa.