Formation of Novel Bimetal Oxide In(2)V(2)O(7) through a Shock Compression Method

[Image: see text] Bimetal oxides with a chemical formula of A(2)B(2)O(7) have received much attention from plenty of research groups owing to their outstanding properties, such as electronic, optical, and magnetic properties. Among the abundant element combinations of cations A and B, some theoretically predicted compounds have not successfully been synthesized in experiments, such as In(2)Zr(2)O(7), In(2)V(2)O(7), etc. In this study, a novel tetragonal pyrochlore-like In(2)V(2)O(7) nanopowder has been reported for the first time. In(2)O(3) and VO(2) powders mixed through ball milling were reacted to form In(2)V(2)O(7) by shockwave loading. The recovered sample is investigated to be nanocrystalline In(2)V(2)O(7) powder through various techniques, such as X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray energy spectrum analysis, and transmission electron microscopy. The formed In(2)V(2)O(7) is indexed as a tetragonal cell with a = b = 0.7417 nm and c = 2.1035 nm. Moreover, the formation mechanism of In(2)V(2)O(7) through a shock synthesis process is carefully analyzed based on basic laws of shockwave. The experimental results also confirm that a high shock temperature and high shock pressure are the two key factors to synthesize the In(2)V(2)O(7) nanopowder. Our investigation demonstrates the high potential application of a shock-induced reaction on the synthesis of novel materials, including the preparation of new bimetal oxides.