Layered molybdenum dichalchogenides differ from the classic example of bilayer graphene with their unique electronic properties: the application of pressure can continuously tune electronic structure since the band gap is controlled by delicate interlayer interaction. Here, we have performed measurements of Raman scattering, synchrotron x-ray diffraction, electrical conductivity, and Hall coefficient combined with density functional theory calculations to synthetically study the pressure effect on $2H-{\mathrm{MoTe}}_2$. Both the experiments and calculations consistently demonstrate that ${\mathrm{MoTe}}_2$ undergoes a semiconductor-to-metallic (S-M) transition above 10 GPa. Unlike ${\mathrm{MoS}}_2$, the S-M transition is driven by the gradual tunability of electric structure and band gap without structural transition. The applied pressure also effectively enhances conductivity and carrier concentration while reducing the mobility, which makes ${\mathrm{MoTe}}_2$ more suitable for applications than most other transition-metal dichalchogenides and allows it to be applied in strain-modulated optoelectronic devices.

• Received 8 October 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.99.024111