Pressure-induced metal–insulator transitions in chalcogenide NiS2-Se

We report the temperature-dependent resistivity ρ(T) of chalcogenide NiS2-xSex (x = 0.1) using hydrostatic pressure as a control parameter in the temperature range of 4–300 K. The insulating behavior of ρ(T) survives at low temperatures in the pressure regime below 7.5 kbar, whereas a clear insulator-to-metallic transition is observed above 7.5 kbar. Two types of magnetic transitions, from the paramagnetic (PM) to the antiferromagnetic (AFM) state and from the AFM state to the weak ferromagnetic (WF) state, were evaluated and confirmed by magnetization measurement. According to the temperature–pressure phase diagram, the WF phase survives up to 7.5 kbar, and the transition temperature of the WF transition decreases as the pressure increases, whereas the metal–insulator transition temperature increases up to 9.4 kbar. We analyzed the metallic behavior and proposed Fermi-liquid behavior of NiS1.9Se0.1.