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Insulator Sees the Light

Ultraviolet light has many uses, including water disinfection, pest control, and detection of counterfeit money. A new study by Andrés Santander-Syro at the University of Paris-Sud in France, Patrick Le Fèvre at Synchrotron SOLEIL, and their colleagues now adds another possibility.

The authors report that strong doses of UV light can create patches of nearly-two-dimensional conducting states at the surface of the anatase crystal form of titanium dioxide—a naturally occurring transparent insulator that has a wide range of applications, from paint to sunscreen to dye-sensitized solar cells. The findings demonstrate that UV light can be used to tailor the electronic character of anatase surfaces. Read the synospis on the Physics website.

cristal d’anatase

Tobias Rödel/CSNSM & SOLEIL