When Yayoi Takamura, professor and chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Davis, traveled to Santiago, Chile, last fall, she was amazed at how similar it was to the Sacramento area.

"Santiago is in the middle of a flat valley with the Andes to the east, a lot like Sacramento has the Sierra," she said. "You go to the west over some small hills, and you get to the wine region — that's Napa — and then you go to the coast, you have Valparaiso, which is very much like San Francisco."  

Takamura was in Santiago to meet with Heman Bhuyan, a professor of physics at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, to discuss collaborating on a project researching thin films of complex oxides like titanium dioxide and tantalum pentoxide for use in sustainable energy technologies, such as photovoltaic solar cells and batteries. 

The promising project received a 2023-24 Seed Grant for International Activities from UC Davis Global Affairs. With this initial funding, Takamura and Bhuyan will collaborate across international borders to expand the fundamental knowledge of these complex oxides when they are synthesized at low temperatures.  

Read the full article on the UC Davis Engineering website