Multiple-step phase transformation in silver nanoplates under high pressure.

Silver nanoplates with multiple twin planes parallel to their basal surfaces exhibit multiple steps of structural distortion and phase transformation under increasing external pressure in a diamond-anvil cell. The disappearance of local hexagonal close-packed lamellae and a transformation from face-centered cubic to face-centered tetragonal phase are observed. © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.