Atomic Structure, Dynamics, Changes in Chemical Bonding and Semiconductor-Metal Transition in SbSe: A Remarkable Material for Quantum Networks and Energy Applications.

Antimony sesquiselenide has become an outstanding functional material for photovoltaics, energy storage and transformation, memory and photonic applications. SbSe is one of the most successful emerging solar light absorbers and has also been identified as a highly promising ultralow-loss phase-change material (PCM) for next-generation coherent nanophotonic processors, photonic tensor cores, quantum and neuromorphic networks. Unlike benchmark telluride PCMs, SbSe features a quasi-one-dimensional (1D) crystalline structure consisting of (Sb Se) ribbons, lacks the typical PCM chemical bonding, and undergoes an extended semiconductor-metal transition above the melting point. Consequently, the origin of high optical contrast between crystalline (SET) and amorphous (RESET) logic states remains elusive and presents a significant challenge. Using high-energy X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy over a wide temperature range, supported by first-principles simulations and complemented by thermal, optical and electrical measurements, as well as by Sb-Mössbauer spectroscopy, the quasi-1D network of orthorhombic antimony sesquiselenide was found to undergo significant evolution in amorphous and supercooled SbSe, leading to lower coordination, shorter interatomic distances and a higher p-electron density on antimony, indicating changes in chemical bonding. The observed novel SbSe nanocrystalline polymorph, characterized by trigonal antimony coordination and more isolated Sb-Se ribbons, could help reduce multiple trapping defect states in the bandgap, which are typical of orthorhombic SbSe, thereby enhancing the power-conversion efficiency of photovoltaic devices. Semimetallic and metallic liquid SbSe exhibit a gradual transformation into a denser 2D and/or 3D network with higher antimony coordination. Localized electron states in the pseudogap are becoming extended, leading to an increase in electronic conductivity σ following the relationship σ ∝ (). Liquid SbSe also appears to be strongly fragile, with a nonmonotonic change in viscosity and higher atomic mobility in the metallic liquid. These results explain extraordinary functionalities of SbSe for photonic and energy applications.