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.
The structural compression mechanism and compressibility of gallium oxyhydroxide, α -GaOOH, are investigated by in situ synchrotron radiation x-ray diffraction at pressures up to 31.0 GPa by using the diamond anvil cell technique. The α -GaOOH sustains its orthorhombic structure when the pressure is lower than 23.8 GPa. The compression is anisotropic under hydrostatic conditions, with the a-axis being most compressible. The compression proceeds mainly by shrinkage of the void channels formed by the coordination GaO3（OH）3 octahedra of the crystal structure. Anomaly is found in the compression behavior to occur at 14.6 GPa, which is concomitant with the equatorial distortion of the GaO3（OH）3 octahedra. A kink occurs at 14.6 GPa in the plot of finite strain f versus normalized stress F, indicating the change in the bulk compression behavior. The fittings of a second order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state to the P-V data in different pressure ranges result in the bulk moduli B0=199（1） GPa for P 〈 14.6 GPa and B0=167（2） GPa for P 〉 14.6 GPa. As the pressure is increased to about 25.8 GPa, a first-order phase transformation takes place, which is evidenced by the abrupt decrease in the unit cell volume and b and c lattice parameters.
The previously proposed theoretical and experimental structures, bond characterization, and compressibility of Mg（BH4）2 in a pressure range from 0 to 10 GPa are studied by ab initio density-functional calculations. It is found that the ambient pressure phases of meta-stable I41/amd and unstable P-3ml proposed recently are extra stable and cannot decompose under high pressure. Enthalpy calculation indicates that the ground state of F222 structure proposed by Zhou et al. [2009 Phys. Rev. B 79 212102] will transfer to I41/amd at 0.7 GPa, and then to a P-3ml structure at 6.3 GPa. The experimental P6122 structure （a-phase） transfers to I41/amd at 1.2 GPa. Furthermore, both I41/arnd and P-3ml can exist as high volumetric hydrogen density phases at low pressure. Their theoretical volumetric hydrogen densities reach 146.351 g H2/L and 134.028 g H2/L at ambient pressure, respectively. The calculated phonon dispersion curve shows that the I41/amd phase is dynamically stable in a pressure range from 0 to 4 CPa and the P-3ral phase is stable at pressures higher than 1 GPa. So the I41/arnd phase may be synthesized under high pressure and retained to ambient pressure. Energy band structures show that they are both always ionic crystalline and insulating with a band-gap of about 5 eV in this pressure range. In addition, they each have an anisotropic compressibility. The c axis of these structures is easy to compress. Especially, the c axis and volume of P-3ml phase are extraordinarily compressible, showing that compression along the e axis can increase the volumetric hydrogen content for both I41/amd and P-3ml structures.
The structural stability and electrical properties of AlB2-type MnB2 were studied based on high pressure angledispersive x-ray diffraction, in situ electrical resistivity measured in a diamond anvil cell(DAC) and first-principles calculations under high pressure. The x-ray diffraction results show that the structure of AlB2-type MnB2 remains stable up to 42.6 GPa. From the equation of state of MnB2, we obtained a bulk modulus value of 169.9±3.7 GPa with a fixed pressure derivative of 4, which indicates that AlB2-type MnB2 is a hard and incompressible material. The electrical resistance undergoes a transition at about 19.3 GPa, which can be explained by a transition of manganese 3d electrons from localization to delocalization under high pressure.
