Search

Structural and functional applications involving La 2 Zr 2 O 7 exploit the data on fluorite to pyrochlore phase transition, because of the strong dependence on the physical properties of the system with its phase stability. Though studied for decades, the origin of fluorite to pyrochlore phase transition in La 2 Zr 2 O 7 is still not well understood. In this article, we confirm the presence of a fluorite to pyrochlore phase transition in La 2 Zr 2 O 7 system in the temperature range 1000–1450 °C. The phase transition along with the associated structural properties is investigated with the help La 2 Zr 2 O 7 samples calcined at different temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phase stability of zirconia (ZrO 2) under external perturbation draws the attention of researchers, as it governs the practical use of this material in technological applications. In this article, the phase transition in zinc oxide (ZnO) doped ZrO 2 is addressed by exploiting complementary methodologies, X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopic measurements. We have observed a pressure-induced partial phase transformation in the doped ZrO 2 system for a compacting pressure of less than 1 GPa. It is noteworthy that the level of compacting pressure used in this study is much lower than the range of pressure, reported in the literature, for observing phase transition in pure and doped ZrO 2 using other high-pressure experiments. To understand the underlying dynamics of low pressure-induced phase transformation, we carried out density functional theory calculations for the doped supercell. We have discussed the local bonding environment around the dopant metal ion (Zn2+ in the present case), which, we believe, leads to the phase evolution in a real system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]