Thermodynamic origin of the structural transition pathway in metal oxide nanoparticles under acoustic shocked conditions

-type oxides under similar shocked conditions. Post shock, while most of the oxides exhibit stable crystal structures, some demonstrate temperature-driven pathways and few exhibit pressure-driven transitions. In particular, two key factors, namely, thermal conductivity-dependent molten pool nucleation gap and cation chemoselectivity, are found to determine the transition type. The proposed interpretation may bring about new structural transition concepts under extreme conditions.