title: In-situ high-pressure powder X-ray diffraction study of α-zirconium phosphate.
abstract: The high-pressure structural chemistry of α-zirconium phosphate, α-Zr(HPO4)2·H2O, was studied using in-situ high-pressure diffraction and synchrotron radiation. The layered phosphate was studied under both hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic conditions and Rietveld refinement carried out on the resulting diffraction patterns. It was found that under hydrostatic conditions no uptake of additional water molecules from the pressure-transmitting medium occurred, contrary to what had previously been observed with some zeolite materials and a layered titanium phosphate. Under hydrostatic conditions the sample remained crystalline up to 10 GPa, but under non-hydrostatic conditions the sample amorphized between 7.3 and 9.5 GPa. The calculated bulk modulus, K0 = 15.2 GPa, showed the material to be very compressible with the weak linkages in the structure of the type Zr-O-P.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Materials Science, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, Lancashire PR1 2HE, England.
authors.forename: Jennifer E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Readman
authors.affiliation: Synchrotron Radiation Source, Daresbury Laboratory, Warrington WA4 4AD England.
authors.forename: Alistair
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lennie
authors.affiliation: School of Chemisty, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, England.
authors.forename: Joseph A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Hriljac
keywords: Rietveld refinement; equation of state; high pressure; layered phosphate