Responsabile: Prof. Michele Maggini, PO, Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche

The Organic Synthesis & Materials group is composed by four faculty members of the Department of Chemical Sciences of the University of Padova: Michele Maggini, Enzo Menna, Tommaso Carofiglio and Miriam Mba Blazquez. They share resources, instrumentation and common research interests that currently focus on the organic chemistry of carbon nanostructures (fullerenes, carbon nanotubes and graphene) as well as on the design and synthesis of photo- and electroactive molecular structures for the development of new materials for organic photovoltaics and implement the chemical processing with continuous-flow synthesis in microfluidic reactors.

Composizione del GRE:

• Michele Maggini, PO
• Miriam Mba Blazquez, PA
• Tommaso Carofiglio, PA
• Enzo Menna, PA

Aree di ricerca di afferenza:

• Conversione dell’energia solare

Attività:

Organic synthesis towards new functional materials is at heart of our research that focuses mainly on the chemical functionalization of carbon nanostructures for solar energy conversion; the use of nanocellulose as a platform for bio-inspired functional materials and the preparation of functional supramolecular organogels. The group is also very active in the field of microfluidics. We have developed fast prototyping techniques for the rapid fabrication of polymer microfluidic devices based on soft photolithography, and studied the surface modification of microchannels by wet chemistry methods. By using our custom prototypes, or commercial flow reactors, we study the synthesis and functionalization of organic molecular structures and nanosystems, such as metal nanoparticles, fullerenes and carbon nanotubes. We often use the microfluidics toolbox to study reaction or surface absorption kinetics. We currently work on the batch-to-flow transposition of active pharmaceutical ingredients of industrial interest. Main characterization techniques for organic synthesis and materials, including high-field and solid-state NMR, NIR absorption, TGA and DSC thermal analysis, AFM-STM at ambient conditions, benchtop flow reactors and cleanroom facilities are commonly accessed by the group components. The group is currently involved in four national projects on solar energy conversion:
– FIRB-RBFR08DUX6 SOLIS on the engineering of bulk-heterojunctions, 2010-14
– FIRB-RBAP11C58Y NANOSOLAR on water splitting, 2013-16
– PRIN-20104XET32 DSSCX on dye-sensitized solar cells, 2013-15
– PRIN-2010N3T9M4 HI-PHUTURE on carbon-neutral renewable energy, 2013-15

Elenco delle ultime cinque pubblicazioni:

1. Chauhan, P.; Hadad, C.; Lopez, A. H.; Silvestrini, S.; La Parola, V.; Frison, E.; Maggini, M.; Prato, M.; Carofiglio, T.,”A nanocellulose-dye conjugate for multi-format optical pH-sensing”.Chemical Communications 2014, 50 (67), 9493-9496.
2. Mazzier, D.; Favaro, M.; Agnoli, S.; Silvestrini, S.; Granozzi, G.; Maggini, M.; Moretto, A.,“Synthesis of luminescent 3D microstructures formed by carbon quantum dots and their self-assembly properties”.Chemical Communications 2014, 50 (50), 6592-6595.
3. Mba, M.; Jiménez, A. I.; Moretto, A.“Templating the Self-Assembly of Pristine Carbon Nanostructures in Water”.Chemistry – A European Journal 2014, 20 (14), 3888-3893.
4. Salice, P.; Gambarin, A.; Daldosso, N.; Mancin, F.; Menna, E.,“Noncovalent Interaction between Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Pyrene-Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles in Water-Soluble Nanohybrids”.The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 2014, 118 (46), 27028-27038.
5. Tampieri, F.; Silvestrini, S.; Ricco, R.; Maggini, M.; Barbon, A.,“A comparative electron paramagnetic resonance study of expanded graphites and graphene”.Journal of Materials Chemistry C 2014, 2 (38), 8105-8112.

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