Picasso at the Nanoscale: Investigating the Chemistry of Iconic Paints

Researchers from the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and scientists from The Art Institute of Chicago have teamed up to study the chemical make up of zinc oxide pigments used in artworks by Pablo Picasso. In his talk, Volker Rose will describe how highly focused X-ray beams with nanoscale spatial resolution and trace element sensitivity have helped to determine that Picasso has used conventional house paint in some of his paintings. The study gives also new insights into the material zinc oxide, which has great potential in a variety of applications such as in spintronics or as transparent electrodes in solar panels.