Co-doped SnO2 nanocrystals with tetragonal rutile-type (space group P42/mnm) structure have been investigated using in-situ high-pressure synchrotron angle dis-persive X-ray diffraction till 20.9 GPa at ambient temperature. The analysis of ex-perimental results based on Rietveld refinements suggest that rutile-type SnO2 un-dergoes a structural phase transition at 14.2 GPa to an orthorhombic CaCl2-type phase (space group Pnnm) with no coexistence during the phase transition. No further phase transition is observed till 20.9 GPa. The low-pressure and high-pressure phases are related via a group/subgroup relationship. However, as a discontinuous change in the unit-cell volume is detected at the phase transition, thus, the phase transition can be classified as first-order type. On decompression the transition is found to be re-versible. The results are compared with previous high-pressure studies on SnO2.
Keywords
High Pressure; Phase Transition; Synchrotron Radiation, X-ray Diffraction
Subject
Physical Sciences, Condensed Matter Physics
Copyright:
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The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
Comment:
This is a quite interesting paper where data on the influence of doping on the high-pressure behavior of SnO2 nanoparticles are reported. What is more relevant doping or non-hydrostatic conditions?
Commenter:
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.