Recently, the high pressure study on the TiO_2 nanomaterials has attracted considerable attention due to the typical crystal structure and the fascinating properties of TiO_2 with nanoscale sizes. In this paper, we briefly review the recent progress in the high pressure phase transitions of TiO_2 nanomaterials. We discuss the size effects and morphology effects on the high pressure phase transitions of TiO_2 nanomaterials with different particle sizes, morphologies, and microstructures. Several typical pressure-induced structural phase transitions in TiO_2 nanomaterials are presented, including size-dependent phase transition selectivity in nanoparticles, morphology-tuned phase transition in nanowires, nanosheets,and nanoporous materials, and pressure-induced amorphization（PIA） and polyamorphism in ultrafine nanoparticles and TiO_2-B nanoribbons. Various TiO_2 nanostructural materials with high pressure structures are prepared successfully by high pressure treatment of the corresponding crystal nanomaterials, such as amorphous TiO_2 nanoribbons, α-PbO_2-type TiO_2 nanowires, nanosheets, and nanoporous materials. These studies suggest that the high pressure phase transitions of TiO_2 nanomaterials depend on the nanosize, morphology, interface energy, and microstructure. The diversity of high pressure behaviors of TiO_2 nanomaterials provides a new insight into the properties of nanomaterials, and paves a way for preparing new nanomaterials with novel high pressure structures and properties for various applications.
In situ high pressure XRD diffraction and Raman spectroscopy have been performed on 12 nm CeO2 nanoparticles. Surprisingly, under quasihydrostatic conditions, 12 nm CeO2 nanoparticles maintain the fluorite- type structure in the whole pressure range （0-51 GPa） during the experiments, much more stable than the bulk counterpart （PT-31 GPa）. In contrast, they experienced phase transition at pressure as low as 26 GPa under non- hydrostatic conditions （adopting CsC1 as pressure medium）. Additionally, 32-36 nm CeO2 nanoparticles exhibit an onset pressure of phase transition at 35 GPa under quasihydrostatic conditions, and this onset pressure is much lower than our result. Further analysis shows both the experimental condition （i.e., quasihydrostatic or non-hydrostatic） and grain size effect have a significant impact on the high pressure behaviors of CeO2 nanomaterials.
