Pressure and strain engineering of the structural and electronic transitions in ReS2

Abstract The distinctive crystal structure and anisotropic electrical characteristics of rhenium disulfide (ReS 2 ) have garnered growing interest. Pressure and strain engineering has been used to modulate structural and electronic transition. Here, we present a comprehensive study on the high-pressure phase transition and strain tunable electronic properties of ReS 2 . There occurs a structural transition from distorted-1T to distorted-1T′ at 7.5 GPa. In addition, ReS 2 has opposite piezoresistive effects along the two principle axes in the plane. This study shows that pressure and strain may be used to tune the characteristics of ReS 2 for future optoelectronic applications.