Nanomaterials at high pressure: Spectroscopy and diffraction techniques

Abstract

Experiments have shown that the pressure response of a nanophase material is often quite different from that of the bulk analog. Transitions to high-pressure structural phases, mechanical-elastic properties and pressure-induced grain-size dependent amorphization are unlike those occurring in the bulk macrocrystalline analog. Attempts are made to rationalize why this should be the case from thermodynamic considerations. All of this will mainly be exemplified by the case of nano-TiO2on which there has been a surge of studies in recent years. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.