LAUSR

Exploring new physical properties of nanomaterials with special morphology have been important topics in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Here we report a morphology-tuned structural phase transition under high pressure in the horseshoe shaped BaTiO3 nanomaterials with an average diameter of 26 ± 4 nm. A direct structural phase transition from the tetragonal to the cubic phase without local rhombohedral distortion was observed at about 7.7 GPa by in situ high-pressure X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy, which is clearly different from the phase transition processes of the BaTiO3 bulks and nanoparticles. Additionally, bulk modulus of the tetragonal and cubic phases were determined to be 125.0 and 211.7 GPa, respectively, obviously smaller than the estimated values for BaTiO3 nanoparticles with the same grain size. Further analysis shows that the unique phase transition process and the enhanced structural stability of the tetragonal horseshoe shaped BaTiO3 nanomaterials, may be attributed to the simila...