Micro and Nanostructured Materials
Research focus
The Peer review has evaluated this group as Excellent
The research activity of the Micro and Nanostructured Materials Laboratory is devoted to the design, synthesis and characterization of nanostructured films and surfaces, clusters and nanostructures. Laboratory skills, developed in over 10 years of research, especially concern Raman and Brillouin laser spectroscopies related to the study of vibrational, structural and elastic properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films, heterostructures and nanostructured systems. The Micro and Nanostructured Materials Lab and 4 other laboratories at Politecnico di Milano constitute the NanoEngineered MAterials and Surfaces - NEMAS Center http://www.nemas.polimi.it/ entitled by the Italian Ministery of University and Research - MIUR as a center of excellence in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Prof. C.E.Bottani is coordinator of the center. Since many years the lab is collaborating with the Molecular Beams and Nanocrystalline Materials Laboratory - Universita' di Milano in a project about cluster-assembled nanostructured film deposition with in situ advanced characterization facilities. This collaboration is part of an official agreement on nanotechnologies between Politecnico di Milano and Universita' di Milano. Current research projects focus on the study of materials both from the side of fundamental solid state physics and in view of technological applications in different fields such as catalysis, gas sensing, energy storage and production (thermoelectricity), biotechnologies. Nanostructured film growth and in situ characterization is performed by pulsed laser deposition (PLD), thermal evaporation, ion sputtering and cluster assembling techniques (supersonic cluster beams). Through these techniques a control on film properties, namely morphology, structure at the meso- and nanoscale, stoichiometry, crystallinity, etc. is achieved. Vibrational, structural and nanomechanical properties are investigated by means of Raman and Brillouin inelastic light scattering. Surface morphology, nanotribologic and surface electronic properties are investigated with scanning probe microscopy AFM/STM and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The energetics and compositional evolution of the plasma plume produced by a laser pulse during PLD are modelled with attention to the synthesis and growth of clusters. This is the most recent activity in the field of the interaction between energetic photon and particle beams and solid surfaces and the related modelling, in particular related to the design of the structural and mechanical properties of thin films of metallic and advanced ceramic materials grown in the presence of energetic beams. A research line is devoted to the in-situ investigation of clusters and nanostructures supported on surfaces. Deposition is performed by PLD or thermal evaporation and in-situ Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS), together with in-situ Raman spectroscopy, are employed to characterize deposition and aggregation mechanisms of clusters at surfaces and their electronic properties. Supported clusters as model catalyst systems are currently being investigated. Spin polarized STM/STS are being developed for the study of cluster and surface magnetic properties. Two research lines are devoted to the application of nanotechnology to biological systems: the project “Functional Surfaces” investigates the possibility of producing nanostructured surfaces or patterned coatings for enhanced cell adhesion and proliferation (for microanalysis purposes or for scaffold functionalization); the project “Molecular Imaging” employs scanning probe microscopies to study protein and protein aggregation mechanisms.
Dipartimento di afferenza
Docenti afferenti
Full Professors
Carlo E. Bottani
Associate Professors
Paolo M. Ossi
Marco G. Beghi
Assistant Professors
Andrea Li Bassi
Carlo S. Casari
Matteo Passoni