Pressure-induced staging transition inTiS2intercalation compounds

Single-crystal diamond-anvil x-ray diffraction at 300 K reveals a reversible stage-1--to--stage-2 transition in ${\mathrm{Ag}}_{0.35}$${\mathrm{TiS}}_{2}$, with an onset pressure 1 kbar and coexisting stages up to 25 kbar. In contrast, no stages higher than 1 are observed in ${\mathrm{Li}}_{0.5}$${\mathrm{TiS}}_{2}$ up to 55 kbar. We argue that the different behavior of Li and Ag intercalates cannot be understood in terms of a continuum elastic model but depends instead on the different interatomic distances and atomic radii.