Dynamic shock wave driven simultaneous crystallographic and molecular switching between α-Fe₂O₃ and Fe₃O₄...

Switchable nanostructured materials with a low-cost and fast processing have diverse practical applications in the modern electronic industries, but such materials are highly scarce. Hence, there is a great demand for identifying the externally stimulated solid-state switchable phase transition materials for several industrial applications. In this paper, we present the experimentally observed solid-state molecular level switchable phase transitions of nanocrystalline iron oxide materials: {α-Fe₂O₃ (R-3c) to Fe₃O₄ (Fd-3m) and Fe₃O₄ (Fd-3m) to α-Fe₂O₃ (R-3c)} under dynamic shock wave loaded conditions, and the results were evaluated by diffraction, and vibrational and optical spectroscopic techniques. To date, this is most probably the first report which demonstrates the simultaneous molecular and crystallographic switchable-phase-transitions enforced by dynamic shock waves such that the title material is proposed for sensors and molecular switching applications.