Physical Properties of WTe2 under High Pressure and Strong Magnetic Field I

Recently, Chinese Academy of Sciences Hefei Physical Institute of Solid State Physics, and the collaborative research team of Nanjing University and a strong magnetic field center, made new progress on the study of the WTe2 material physical properties under high pressure high magnetic field extreme conditions. The team used high-pressure diamond anvil cell technology, by studying the electrical transport and magnetic susceptibility, for the first time that observed the superconductivity of high-pressure-induced and magnetic resistance calculated by the theory of evolution and the superconductivity with pressure has been systematically studied, related to the results of "superconductivity and evolution of the electronic structure of the type" and titled by "tungsten telluride pressure-driven", published in "Nature - communication" on July 23, the solid researcher YangZhaorong and professor at Nanjing University Song Fengqi, Wan Xiangang are co-corresponding authors of this article.
 
High pressure is a clean, pure and powerful tool in researching new material properties, especially in the exploration of new superconducting materials. WTe2 is a kind of layered semi-metallic material, when the temperature is 0.53K, under strong magnetic field at 60T, the magnetoresistance can be up to 13,000,000%, and it still did not reach the saturation. This strange phenomenon has aroused wide attention of researchers at home and abroad. Recent theoretical studies suggest that it may be a kind of Weyl semi-metallic, magnetic resistance is considered to be related to the perfect match of the hole and electron carrier concentration of the Fermi surface nearby in the system, of which this perfect equilibrium is extremely sensitive for external perturbation, such as doping and stress.

WTe2

 

Study on Unique Electronic Valleys of Tungsten Disulfide

Monolayer films of tungsten disulfide, just three atoms thick, have unique electronic valleys which can be manipulated with laser light. This finding, by MIT physics graduate student Edbert Jarvis Sie, Associate Professor Nuh Gedik, and colleagues, was significant enough to warrant placement on the cover of Nature Materials earlier this year.
 
The cover illustrates a tornado-like whorl of light, lifting an electronic band in the material to a higher energy state, which widens the band gap in the material. This widening is known as the optical Stark effect. The researchers, under senior author Nuh Gedik, the Lawrence C. (1944) and Sarah W. Biedenharn Career Development Associate Professor of Physics at MIT, found that applying circularly polarized laser light lifted the energy in one valley while leaving the energy in the other valley unaffected. "There are two valleys. If we switch the laser polarization, the effect switches to the other valley," Sie says. Gedik spoke about his group's research on topological insulators at the Materials Day Symposium, on Oct. 14, in Kresge Auditorium.
 
"In materials, electrons travelling in different directions experience different scattering potential with the atoms. This establishes an energy landscape as a function of electron's momentum, which can form a local minimum that we call a valley," Sie explains. "The phenomenon of the valleys only occurs in these extremely thin, monolayer forms of the tungsten sulfur compound, not in its bulk form. These valleys normally have the same energy. But as we apply this circularly polarized light, we can lift the energy of one valley relative to the other."

WTe2

 

Isopropyl Alcohol's Widespread Applications

IPA ,also known as isopropyl alcohol, is used as a low-cost solvent in many industrial and consumer products, it is also used as the extraction agent. According to the European Solvents Industry Group (ESIG) analysis, in 2001 in Europe, the demand of intermediate accounted for 32% of IPA consumption, 14% as anti-icers, 13% for coatings and resins, 9% for medicine , 4% for food, 3% for inks and adhesives. It is also used as solvent for oil and gum, and the preparation of fish feed concentrate.

Low-grade IPA can be used as vehicle fuel. the amount of IPA used as raw materials of acetone in production declines. There are several compounds synthesized by the IPA, the main compounds is methyl isobutyl ketone and many esters. The general purity of Anhydrous IPA is 99%, the premium (used for making perfume and medicine) IPA purity is greater than 99.8%.

Isopropyl Alcohol

 

Great Magnetoresistance of Tungsten Telluride

A magnetoresistive material is added with a magnetic field, whose resistance will change, which is a technically useful phenomenon, such as the utilization in sensors to read data of hard disk. Mazhar Ali and his colleagues now identify a kind of material (tungsten telluride), in which the magnetoresistance effect is abnormally large: the resistance can be changed by more than 13 million percent. Its remarkable reluctance will be displayed in very high magnetic fields and very low temperatures, so the actual application is currently impossible. But the discovery proposed new direction for study on the magnetoresistance, which may eventually lead to new applications of this effect.
 
Tungsten(IV) telluride (WTe2) is an inorganic semimetallic chemical compound. In October 2014, tungsten ditelluride was discovered to exhibit an extremely large magnetoresistance: 13 million percent with no known saturation point. The resistance is proportional to the square of the magnetic field. This may be due to the materiel being the first example of a compensated semimetal, in which the number of mobile holes is the same as the number of electrons. The structure of tungsten ditelluride is layered, and the substance can be exfoliated into thin sheets down to monolayers. However electrons can easily move between the layers, unlike in other two dimensional semiconductors. The fraction of charge carriers is 0.005 per formula unit (WTe2).
 
When subjected to pressure, the magnetoresistance effect in WTe2 is reduced. At a pressure of 10.5 GPa magnetoresistance disappears. Above this same pressure of 10.5 GPa tungsten ditelluride can become a superconducter. At 13.0 GPa the transition to superconductivity happens below 6.5K. WTe2 was also recently predicted to be a Weyl semimetal and, in particular, to be the first example of a "Type II" Weyl semimetal, where the Weyl nodes exist at the intersection of the electron and hole pockets.

 

Production Technology of Isopropyl Alcohol

Production Technology
There are two kinds of commercial process of isopropyl alcohol (IPA) preparation, which both use propylene as raw materials. The older method using refinery grade propylene and sulfuric acid catalyst indirect dehydration to produce isopropyl sulfate, then use steam hydrolyzed into sulfuric acid and IPA, crude IPA was purified by distillation. Newer chemical route is using chemical grade propylene (90% to 99%) to direct hydration, avoiding the use of sulfuric acid. Propylene and water through heating, the gas-liquid mixture into the trickle-bed reactor containing sulfonated polystyrene cation exchange resin under pressure.Also phosphoric acid catalyst by manipulation in a fixed bed reaction is carried out in the gas phase.
 
There is also a liquid line, using a soluble tungsten catalyst. IPA is obtained from the aqueous solution by distillation. Also a small amount of IPA from acetone hydrogenation in the liquid phase, but the process is only applicable to the excess acetone available place.

Isopropyl Alcohol

 

 

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