Charge-induced phase transition in encapsulated HfTe2 nanoribbons

Reversibly altering the physical structure of a material on-demand can lead to direct manipulation of its electronic properties. In this work a localized electron beam is used to switch regions of nanotube-encapsulated HfTe${}_{2}$ nanoribbons between the metallic 1T phase and the previously experimentally inaccessible semiconducting 1H phase. The change is observed in-situ in a high-resolution transmission electron microscope. Complementary theoretical studies provide details of the electronic structure of each phase and the phase change energetics.