Abstract
Shock wave impacts on bulk and nanocrystalline materials provide an ideal platform for understanding the stability of the crystallographic, electronic and magnetic phase of test specimens in harsh environments. In the current research work, we display the investigations on the stability of crystallographic and magnetic phases of technologically important zirconium oxide nanoparticles (ZrO2 NPs) at dynamic shocked conditions making use of X-ray diffraction (XRD), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and vibrational sample magnetometer (VSM). Based on the observed X-ray diffraction results, the crystallographic structure (monoclinic-P2(1)/c) of the title material is intact at shocked conditions, whereas VSM results show reversible magnetic states which follow the sequence of magnetic phase transitions Ferro-Ferri-Ferro-Ferri for the respective counts of 0, 50, 100 and 150 shocked conditions. Based on the convincing reversible magnetic phase transition behaviour, ZrO2 NPs can be a potential material for the applications in magnetic sensors and spintronics.