In a pressure-temperature (P-T) diagram for synthesizing IrTe2 compounds, the well-studied trigonal (H) phase with the CdI2-type structure is stable at low pressures. The superconducting cubic (C) phase can be synthesized under higher temperatures and pressures. A rhombohedral phase with the crystal structure similar to the C phase can be made at ambient pressure; but the phase contains a high concentration of Ir deficiency. In this paper, we report that a rarely studied monoclinic (M) phase can be stabilized in narrow ranges of pressure and temperature in this P-T diagram. The peculiar crystal structure of the M-IrTe2 eliminates the tendency to form Ir-Ir dimers found in the H phase. The M phase has been fully characterized by structural determination and measurements of electrical resistivity, thermoelectric power, DC magnetization, and specific heat. These physical properties have been compared with those in the H and C phases of Ir1-xTe2. Moreover, magnetic and transport properties and specific heat of the M-IrTe2 can be fully justified by calculations with the density-functional theory presented in this paper.
@article{arxiv.1505.06124,
title = {Synthesis of monoclinic IrTe2 under high pressure and its physical properties},
author = {X. Li and J. -Q. Yan and D. J. Singh and J. B. Goodenough and J. -S. Zhou},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1505.06124},
year = {2015}
}