Stacking polymorphism in PtSe$_2$ drastically affects its electromechanical properties

Abstract

PtSe$_2$ is one of the most promising materials for the next generation of piezoresistive sensors. However, the large-scale synthesis of homogeneous thin films with reproducible electromechanical properties is challenging due to polycrystallinity. We show that stacking phases other than the AA-stacking in the 1T phase become thermodynamically available at elevated temperatures. We show that these can make up a significant fraction in a polycrystalline thin film and discuss methods to characterize these stacking phases. Lastly, we estimate their gauge factors, which vary strongly and significantly impact the performance of a nanoelectromechanical device.