High pressure investigations of MoS2

MoS₂ has been studied to pressures of 50 kb (10 kb = 1 GPa) at ambient temperature. Electrical resistance measurements were made to 50 kb, and the effect of pressure on the energy gap E, was found to agree well with previous work. The variations in $\text{dE}\text{dP}$ reported in the literature were found to be an apparent result of sample orientation. Volume compression studies were made to 30kb, and X-ray structural studies to 42 kb. The compressibility data agreed well with the theoretical values derived from a model which assumed bond-stretching forces only. None of the experimental studies showed evidence of a phase transformation near 20 kb as reported by Bridgman.