United States. Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque found an inexpensive way to synthesize titanium dioxide nanoparticles, which is in the process of finding partners who can demonstrate the process on an industrial scale for everything from solar cells to light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles have great potential as charges to adjust the refractive index of anti-reflective coatings on optical signs and encapsulants for LEDs, solar cells and other optical devices. Optical encapsulants are coatings, usually made of silicone, that protect a device.
Labs say the industry has largely neglected TiO2 nanoparticles because they have been difficult and expensive to make, and current methods produce particles that are too large.
Sandia became interested in TiO2 for optical encapsulants because of her work on LED materials for solid-state lighting. Current TiO2 production methods require high-temperature processing or expensive surfactants.
Sandia's technique, on the other hand, uses, readily available low-cost materials results in nanoparticles that are small, more or less uniform in size and do not cluster together.
"We wanted something that was low-cost and scalable, and that made the particles very small," said researcher Todd Monson, who along with lead researcher Dale Huber, patented the process in mid-2011 dubbed "High-throughput synthesis of TiO2 brookite nanoparticles."
