Time-resolved X-ray powder diffraction study of photoinduced phase transitions in Ti3O5 nanoparticles

COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESNanoparticles of Ti3O5 have been reported to show a permanent photoinduced phase transition at room temperature. This suggests that light-induced phase transformations of Ti3O5 nanoparticles may be promising for technological applications. Here, we report a photoinduced semiconductor-to-metal phase transition from beta-Ti3O5 to lambda-Ti3O5 nanoparticles at room temperature observed directly by time-resolved X-ray powder diffraction in a pump-probe setup. The results show a partial structural change, limited by differences between pumped and probed volumes, which persists a few microseconds after excitation. The first step in the relaxation back to the ground state can be described by a single exponential decay with time constant within microsecond timescales. Analysis of the change in lattice constants enables us to estimate an average temperature increase across the phase transition, consistent with a thermally driven process.181013851392COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESCOORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESSem informaçãoThis research was supported by the NCCR MUST, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. K.R.T. is grateful to Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES) for funding the scholarship