High-pressure X-ray diffraction study of bulk- and nanocrystalline GaN

Bulk- and nanocrystalline GaN have been studied by high-pressure energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction. Pressure-induced structural phase transitions from the wurtzite to the NaCl phase were observed in both materials. The transition pressure was found to be 40 GPa for the bulk-crystalline GaN, while the wurtzite phase was retained up to 60 GPa in the case of nanocrystalline GaN. The bulk moduli for the wurtzite phases were determined to be 187 (7) and 319 (10) GPa for the bulk- and nanocrystalline phases, respectively, while the respective NaCl phases were found to have very similar bulk moduli [208 (28) and 206 (44) GPa].