van der Waals materials are exceptionally responsive to external stimuli. Pressure-induced layer sliding, metallicity, and superconductivity are fascinating examples. Inspired by opportunities in this area, we combined high-pressure optical spectroscopies and first-principles calculations to reveal piezochromism in MnPS₃. Dramatic color changes (green → yellow → red → black) take place as the charge gap shifts across the visible regime and into the near infrared, moving systematically toward closure at a rate of approximately −50 meV/GPa. This effect is quenched by the appearance of the insulator–metal transition. In addition to uncovering an intriguing and tunable functionality that is likely to appear in other complex chalcogenides, the discovery that piezochromism can be deterministically controlled at room temperature accelerates the development of technologies that take advantage of stress-activated modification of electronic structure.

范德华材料对外部刺激反应异常。压力引起的层滑动，金属性和超导性是引人入胜的例子。受此领域机遇的启发，我们结合了高压光学光谱学和第一性原理计算方法，揭示了MnPS ₃中的压致变色现象。。当电荷隙在可见光范围内转移到近红外区域时，会发生剧烈的颜色变化（绿色→黄色→红色→黑色），并以大约-50 meV / GPa的速率系统地朝着闭合方向移动。绝缘体-金属过渡层的出现消除了这种影响。除了揭示可能在其他复杂硫族化物中出现的有趣且可调节的功能外，还可以在室温下确定地控制压致变色这一发现，加速了利用应力激活的电子结构修饰技术的开发。