Pressure-induced superconductivity and structure phase transition in Pt2HgSe3.

Recently monolayer jacutingaite (Pt₂HgSe₃), a naturally occurring exfoliable mineral, discovered in Brazil in 2008, has been theoretically predicted as a candidate quantum spin Hall system with a 0.5 eV band gap, while the bulk form is one of only a few known dual-topological insulators that may host different surface states protected by symmetries. In this work, we systematically investigate both structure and electronic evolution of bulk Pt₂HgSe₃ under high pressure up to 96 GPa. The nontrivial topology is theoretically stable, and persists up to the structural phase transition observed in the high-pressure regime. Interestingly, we found that this phase transition is accompanied by the appearance of superconductivity at around 55 GPa and the critical transition temperature T_c increases with applied pressure. Our results demonstrate that Pt₂HgSe₃ with nontrivial topology of electronic states displays a ground state upon compression and raises potentials in application to the next-generation spintronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]