The U.S. Food and Drug Administration remains firm in its guidance that titanium dioxide can be used as a food additive despite the European Commission’s decision to ban its use in 2022. In the past year, however, several U.S. state legislatures have introduced bills that would ban the use of TiO2 in food, as well as several other additives.
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Many animals in nature have special pigment cells that allow them to change the color of their skin in response to various stimuli. Now, Northeastern University researchers combined one of those pigments, called xanthommatin, with titanium dioxide to create a paint that can rapidly and reversibly change color in response to light.
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Ceramic materials that can self-heal cracks would help reduce maintenance and inspection costs while enhancing component reliability and lifespan. Researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities made a counterintuitive discovery of a new way to self-heal cracks in ceramics—through electron beam radiolysis.
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As the European Union prepares to ban the use of titanium dioxide as a food additive starting August 7, the United States Food and Drug Administration has no plans to change regulation of this substance. This situation illustrates the larger picture of how the EU and U.S. differ in their approach to chemicals regulation.
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Titanium dioxide is widely used as a photocatalyst due to its high catalytic activity, excellent chemical stability, low material cost, and minimal toxicity to humans. However, some researchers raised concerns that using TiO2 photocatalytic paints as a remediation technology to improve air quality may do more harm than good.
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Titanium dioxide is widely used in food products to achieve a bright white color—but that may soon change. The European Food Safety Authority recently published an updated assessment of TiO2 as a food additive that characterizes the substance as unsafe.
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Pressure treatment is a method to prevent wood rot, but it does have its downsides. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology explored treating wood using atomic layer deposition and found they could manage moisture content, mold growth, and thermal conductivity.
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Both glass and ceramics can be quite brittle. Two recent studies look at increasing the ductility of each—one through the consolidation of glassy nanoparticles, and the other through flash sintering.
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Titanium dioxide is the second most common pigment used in tattoo inks. Yet researchers of two studies warn nano-TiO2 could travel to your lymph nodes—and bring metal particles from the needle along with it.
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Researchers found simple thermal annealing can effectively dope titanium dioxide with nitrogen. Findings like this one can help expand the use of TiO2 in solar energy conversion technologies.
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