Pressure-induced structural changes and insulator-metal transition in layered bismuth triiodide, BiI3: a combined experimental and theoretical study.

Noting that BiI3 and the well-known topological insulator (TI) Bi2Se3 have the same high symmetry parent structures, and that it is desirable to find a wide-band gap TI, we determine here the effects of pressure on the structure, phonons and electronic properties of rhombohedral BiI3. We report a pressure-induced insulator-metal transition near 1.5 GPa, using high pressure electrical resistivity and Raman measurements.