Pressure-induced structural transition of Y2Zr2O7

The structural changes of Y2Zr2O7 under high pressure have been investigated by using angle-dispersive synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction up to 34 GPa at room temperature. A new pressure-induced phase transition from cubic (Fm-3m) structure to orthorhombic (Pnma) structure at 27.3 GPa is observed, and the phase transition is irreversible. The high-pressure orthorhombic (Pnma) phase has longer average cation-anion bonding distance than cubic (Fm-3m) structure which was proved by the increase of coordination number.