Organic Functional and Nanostructured Materials: synthesis, characterization and modeling

Research focus

The Peer review has evaluated this group as Excellent

1. Organic materials for electronic and optical applications
This research aims to design and prepare organic functional materials (low molecular weight, polymers and oligomers) with peculiar properties to be used as active layer in devices for optics, optoelectronics, molecular electronics and photonics.
Design and synthesis. The classes of materials considered are the following: - Oligo- and polythiophenes and azahelicenes for non-volatile memories, thin film transistors and vapour sensors; - Molecules with quinoid ground state for organic photodetectors and as NLO materials for telecom devices; - Photochromic diaryletenes for optical memories, devices for astronomical instrumentation and waveguides.
Processing. Fabrication and characterization of polymer micro- and nano-fibers by means of electrospinning techniques. - Preparation of organic layers for the realisation of devices through usual casting techniques and developing ad hoc coatings.
Development of devices. The research aims to realize devices based on organic smart materials for the following technological fields: - Optics: new-concept components for astronomical instrumentation; rewritable optical memories; - Molecular electronics: non-volatile memories, thin film transistors; - Optoelectronics: organic photodetectors

2. Preparation and modification of synthetic and natural materials
This research aims at the exploitation of a long-standing expertise in saccharide and polysaccharide chemistry to produce new functional materials.
Multifunctional cellulose derivatives Functional grous are introduced to add new properties to cellulose materials (increased mechanical strength, controlled drug delivery, active filtering), maintaining at the same time their peculiar structure and properties.
Biomedical nanostructured materials Assembly of biological vectors (sugar-based structure) with nanoparticles and drugs.

3. Materials characterization by spectroscopic and scattering methods

These methods are used both to characterize the materials produced within the group (see points 1. and 2.) or provided by external collaborators, and to gain a fundamental understanding of the electronic structure, dynamics and interactions of molecules and materials at different time- and length-scales.
Infrared, Raman, Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering, NMR, UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopies, Wide- and Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (WAXS, SAXS), DSC and electron microscopies (SEM, TEM) as diagnostic tools for nanostructured and functional organic materials.
Structural characterization: oligomer and polymer crystal structure determination from single crystal, powder, thin film and fiber diffraction data. Thin film morphology and substrateor polymorph-dependent orientation features. Specifically: conjugated systems, new polyolefins (norbornene) and polydienes. Morphology and orientation phenomena in nanocomposites and crystalline or nanostructured biomaterials by X-ray scattering methods.
Pharmaceutical compounds: stereochemistry, inclusion complexes and characterization of polymorphism by X-ray diffraction and calorimetry. Dipartimento di Chimica, Materiali e Ingegneria Chimica “Giulio Natta” – Research Assessment Excercise 2003-2006 78
Room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs): local structure, molecular motions and solvation by NMR.
Electron confinement in Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and nanostructured graphites: Multiwavelenght Raman spectroscopy for the investigation of the electronic and molecular structure.
Cultural heritage: Development of innovative spectroscopic diagnostic tools for the study of surface deposits and degradation processes.

4. Theoretical and computational studies of molecular and nano-structures, molecular interactions and dynamics
The group has expertise in a wide-range of theoretical and computational methods which are used both as a support for the ongoing experimental activities and to address fundamental scientific problems.
First-principle and semiempirical calculations are employed to establish structure-propety relationships and: - propose novel functional molecules with foreseen improvement of specific properties - help the understanding of experimental spectroscopic features. - parametrize force fields for molecular mechanics/dynamics simulations
Molecular dynamics simulations are used to investigate the behaviour of both atomistic and coarse-grained models of polymers and other organic materials: - protein absorption on natural and synthetic materials - conformation of hyperbranched polymers - structure and energetics of small-molecule and polymeric crystals and their surfaces - room-temperature ionic liquids and their solutions - physical origin of the reinforcement of polymer networks by rigid colloidal fillers - structure and dynamics of physical gels formed by associating polymers
The theoretical description of the large-scale and long-time behaviour of macromolecules in bulk and solution by Gaussian or more elaborate chain models and by stochastic (Langevin) equations is a long-lasting interest of the group, which has been recently applied to: - nucleation and growth of polymeric crystallites - structure and phase transitions of the mesophases formed by flexible polymers (polyphosphazenes, polysiloxanes, etc.) - macromolecules at interfaces, particularly in relation to polymer-mediated adhesion of solid surfaces and the sliding friction between glassy polymers

Dipartimento di afferenza

Dipartimento di Chimica, Materiali e Ingegneria Chimica

Docenti afferenti

Full Professors
Giuseppe Allegra
Giuseppe Zerbi
Fabio Ganazzoli
Stefano Valdo Meille
Associate Professors
Chiara Castiglioni
Andrea Mele
Elena Vismara
Assistant Professors
Antonino Famulari
Guido Raos
Mirella Del Zoppo
Chiara Bertarelli
Luciana Malpezzi
Matteo Tommasini