Utilization of Metal Oxides and Chalcogenides Stabilized in Organic Solvents

Metal oxides and metal chalcogenides are important materials for a variety of applications including photocatalysis for decomposition of water, conductive and optical coatings, catalysts, photovoltaics, pryoelectrics, self-cleaning surfaces, pigments, and high efficiency Li-insertion materials in batteries among many other applications. Fundamental discoveries of surprising solubility of insoluble materials such as single and multi-walled carbon nanotubes and graphene has lead us to discover that certain metal oxides and metal chalcogenides such as TiO2 are soluble in certain solvents. Due to the industrial importance of TiO2, discovering stable pure solvent systems demonstrates a possibility to avoid surface modification of TiO2 nanoparticles by use materials such as of (3-methacryloxypropyl)-trimethoxysilane and various other methods of artificial stabilization. We have created thin films of TiO2, transparent ultraviolet (UV) --absorptive polymers, and Li-ion battery anodes with graphene-TiO2 hybrid materials.