Program

Metal halide perovskites are a class of semiconductors that can be processed with low-cost coating methods while maintaining good properties. A brief introduction will be provided on these materials and their use in photovoltaic and light-emitting devices. I will then focus on the benefits of vacuum processed perovskites and discuss different vacuum based processing methods.

I will show some of the recent results obtained in my research group and highlight the shortcomings that would need to be overcome.

Transport of charges or spins, interaction of light and matter, responses to external stimuli or encoding information, all these processes are part of our modern technologies, but they all depend on materials.

This talk is a synthesis-driven journey through the fascinating landscape of carbon nanostructures as materials. Two principles stand in the foreground: regarding structures, it is precision even for ultralarge polymers, regarding synthesis, it is a two-step protocol where dendritic 3D-polyphenylenes are flattened toward 2D-graphene molecules. This astonishing reaction can be performed oxidatively in solution, but also thermally after deposition of the precursors on catalytically active metal surfaces. The latter protocol offers an additional opportunity, namely monitoring the reactions by scanning probe methods and thus “seeing” a polymer grow in situ. Employing these synthetic methods, we introduce a unique family of unprecedented semiconductors: disc-type nanographenes (NGs) and graphene nanoribbons (GNRs).

To understand their role as active components of electronic and spintronic devices, let us consider the transport of charges (electrons or holes) for which high charge mobilities are particularly desirable. Looking, for example, at field effect transistors as omnipresent constituents of electronic circuits, high mobilities imply high switching speed. Graphene, a 2D-semiconductor, is hailed as wonder material due to its high charge mobility. Its practical value, however, is severely hampered due to its vanishing band gap which would exclude any off-state of the switch.

Important features of the NGs and GNRs are i) non-vanishing electronic band gaps due to the geometric confinement, ii) stable high-spin systems with precise spin-spin interactions, and iii) exotic quantum states. Among the many opportunities for new device concepts, applications for quantum computing will appear particularly exciting.

Please, donnot understand this talk as exercise of an amateur physicist since chemistry stands in the foreground. A key aspect is the controlled transition between 2D- and 3D- carbon nanostructures. 3D-Polyphenylenes are not only carbon reservoirs for graphene synthesis, but also efficient light-harvesting complexes. A groundbreaking outcome is that nanographenes serve as precursors for the perfect fabrication of nanodiamonds.

Nature 2010, 2016, 2018, 2026; Nature Synthesis 2022; Nature Materials 2023; Nature Chemistry 2014, 2024, 2026.

Developing sustainable materials requires more than replacing petroleum-derived components with renewable biomass. It also requires understanding how biological feedstocks can be processed, organized, and transformed into materials with controlled structure and properties. Microalgae offer an attractive platform for this purpose because they are photosynthetic, compositionally rich, widely available, and can be cultivated without directly competing with conventional food crops. Yet their use in structural materials raises fundamental materials-science questions: how does cellular morphology affect processability, cohesion, and mechanical performance, and how can biological microstructure be preserved or modified during fabrication? In this lecture, I will discuss microalgae-based biocomposites as a model system for connecting sustainability with processing–structure–property relationships. The first part of the lecture will introduce the broader challenges of forming materials from biomass, including flow behavior, shape retention, drying-induced shrinkage, microstructural integrity, and mechanical response. I will present recent work using Chlorella vulgaris microalgae to fabricate lightweight hierarchical biocomposites by room-temperature extrusion-based 3D printing. By controlling formulation, printing conditions, and dehydration, these materials develop tunable mechanical behavior together with low thermal conductivity. I will also discuss complementary work on Spirulina-based materials, where preserving or disrupting the native cellular microstructure strongly influenced printability, cohesion, shrinkage, and compressive performance. These studies show that biomass should not be viewed simply as a passive filler, but as a functional material component whose morphology, chemistry, and processing history govern final properties. This perspective highlights microalgae as a versatile platform for designing sustainable materials through biological structure and materials processing.

Among living organisms, plants exhibit a remarkable range of strategies for interacting with complex and heterogeneous environments, shaped by millions of years of evolution across terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. As living, adaptive systems, they continuously negotiate energy, matter, and information with their surroundings, providing a powerful blueprint for the design of next-generation materials and robotic systems.

In this talk, I will explore how key functional principles from plant biology-including morphology and biomechanics-can be translated into plant-inspired and biohybrid microfabricated systems. These systems, in turn, open new opportunities for sustainable technologies in agriculture, environmental monitoring, and robotics. I will present a new class of miniaturized, multifunctional plant-inspired machines designed for in situ environmental monitoring and targeted cargo delivery in confined and unstructured environments.

These systems combine bioinspired design with biohybrid approaches, integrating morphological and biomechanical features derived from both terrestrial and aquatic plants. Advanced fabrication techniques—including microcomputed tomography, two-photon lithography, and bioprinting—enable the development of scalable and sustainable prototypes with high structural and functional complexity across multiple length scales. When deployed in real-world environments, such as soil, plant tissues, and aquatic systems, these machines exhibit plant-like strategies for actuation, anchoring, and interaction with natural substrates.

Overall, this work highlights how plant biology can inform the design of adaptive and physically embodied systems for sustainable environments, while also providing a complementary experimental platform to investigate functional plant traits and ecosystem-level interactions. By bridging biology, robotics, and materials science, plant-inspired biohybrid systems contribute to a broader understanding of living matter and open new directions for ecology, environmental restoration, and bioinspired engineering.

Carbon occupies a unique place in science and technology. From energy storage to advanced electronics, many of the technologies needed for a sustainable future rely on carbon-based materials. At the same time, carbon possesses an unparalleled ability to form diverse chemical structures. Yet despite centuries of study, there is little reason to believe that we have reached the limits of carbon’s possibilities.

In this lecture, I will discuss the unique role of carbon in sustainability and materials discovery, highlighting how advances in synthesis have repeatedly expanded the boundaries of accessible chemical space and revealed entirely new classes of materials. However, many regions of carbon chemical space remain difficult to access because conventional solution-based synthetic approaches are often poorly suited for constructing extended covalent architectures.

To address this challenge, my laboratory seeks to expand carbon chemical space through the vapor-phase polymerization of organic molecules. By harnessing solid-state synthetic strategies, we aim to access extended covalent materials that are difficult or impossible to obtain through conventional solution chemistry, opening new routes to previously inaccessible carbon architectures.

Ultimately, this work is guided by a simple question: How much carbon chemistry remains undiscovered, and what might we learn when we finally learn how to build it?

Recent advances in electrochemical energy technologies require materials that are not only highly active, but also durable, selective, and capable of operating efficiently under demanding conditions. In this talk, I will present how nanostructured carbon-based interfaces can evolve from passive supports into active and adaptive components that govern catalyst performance and reaction pathways, enabling new opportunities for sustainable energy conversion and storage.

First, I will discuss strategies developed to stabilize metal nanoparticles through their selective assembly at graphitic step-edges inside carbon nanofibers. These confined architectures suppress catalyst degradation and provide exceptional long-term stability, while opening the possibility of dynamically reconfigurable catalyst–support interfaces. By introducing sulfur functionalities, adaptive supports have been engineered that not only enhance activity and durability but also modulate the electronic structure of active sites, leading to highly selective urea oxidation coupled to hydrogen production with Faradaic efficiencies approaching 92%.

The second part of the talk will highlight how support interactions and local microenvironments can fundamentally alter reaction mechanisms, illustrating how identical catalytic species may promote different electrochemical reactions depending on their mode of assembly. These findings demonstrate that catalyst supports can actively determine activity, selectivity, and even the reaction itself.

Finally, I will present recent developments in aqueous Zn-based energy storage, including bifunctional catalysts for rechargeable Zn–air batteries and the discovery of a new porous supramolecular liquid electrolyte for Zn–bromine batteries. This unconventional electrolyte stabilizes molecular bromine through nanoscale confinement, suppressing parasitic reactions and improving reversibility and durability, while enabling simpler and more sustainable battery architectures.

Overall, the work illustrates how controlling interfacial chemistry and confinement effects across multiple length scales provides new design principles for next-generation electrocatalysts and electrolytes aimed at sustainable energy conversion and large-scale energy storage.

Over 400 million tons of polymers are manufactured each year, of which only a small fraction are recycled. About 5% are polymer adhesives, which play an important role in many industrial, consumer and medical products. Many are petroleum-derived and challenging to recycle due to intimate integration with other materials. Consequently, many polymer adhesives are destined for the waste stream and ultimately landfilled, incinerated or discarded into the environment.

In this talk, I will describe two approaches to improving polymer sustainability: upcycling and closed-loop recycling. In polymer upcycling, a low-cost waste polymer is converted into a higher-value material. I will provide an example of polyethylene functional upcycling, achieved by catalytic chemical modification to produce a polyethylene that exhibits enhanced adhesion.

In closed-loop recycling, polymer is collected after use, reprocessed, and converted back into raw materials (monomers) or new products, allowing the material to be used repeatedly without degradation. Polymers of -lipoic acid (aLA) have the potential for closed-loop recycling, but their performance has been historically plagued by spontaneous depolymerization. I will describe a facile method for catalyst-free LA polymerization, affording polymers that are resistant to spontaneous depolymerization. A small library of LA monomer derivatives provided access to a surprisingly wide range of physical properties and uses. Examples of structural, pressure-sensitive and medical adhesives will be provided. This family of adhesives can be recycled in a closed-loop manner using 2-step aqueous solvent processing at >80% monomer recovery efficiency, suggesting that aLA adhesives could be more eco-friendly than existing commercial adhesives.

Next to healthcare, safe and affordable energy is probably the crucial need of modern societies. Energy technologies rely on three different concepts: energy saving, energy storage and energy transformation (use of the term “transformation” is suggested instead of “generation”, energy is never generated). Research in this direction must combine scientific and technical approaches, but always depends on the applied materials, even if not all physicists, engineers and political decision makers seem to be aware of it.

It is shown herein how graphene can be fabricated and incorporated into batteries and supercapacitors as energy storage devices. Often, hybrids of graphene and inorganic components (silicon, metals, metal oxides) reveal superior capacitance. Batteries are made for high energy density, supercapacitors for high power density. Energy transformation is demonstrated for oxygen reduction in fuel cells. The required catalysts are obtained from single atoms of non-noble metals. Their fabrication must combine high loading on supports with the avoidance of aggregation.

The critical feature of any energy transformation is efficiency, which can be documented for light emitting diodes and photovoltaic cells, but also for processes such as photothermal conversion.

Science 2016; Nature Rev. Chem. 2017; Nature 2018; Nature Commun. 2014, 2020, 2024, 2025 J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 2023, 2024.

Surface chemistry offers powerful routes to materials synthesis by using interfaces not only as supports, but as reactive environments in which molecular precursors can be transformed into extended, low-dimensional, and otherwise difficult-to-access structures. In this lecture, I will discuss on-surface synthesis in combination with scanning probe microscopy (SPM) and spectroscopy as an atomic-scale platform for materials prototyping: model structures can be built, visualized, modified, and probed directly on surfaces, enabling structure-property relationships to be established with single-molecule and even bond-level precision.

The concept will be illustrated with examples from carbon-based and heteroatom-doped low-dimensional materials. First, controlled surface reactions provide access to nonbenzenoid sp2 carbon allotropes containing nonhexagonal rings, including the biphenylene network, a 4–6–8 carbon allotrope with metallic character already at very small dimensions [1,2]. Second, long acenes are discussed as atomically precise model systems for extended π-conjugation, open-shell electronic structure, and molecular magnetism. Using multistep single-molecule manipulation, tridecacene and pentadecacene, the longest acenes reported to date, were synthesized and characterized [3,4]. Third, heteroatom incorporation is shown to tune the electronic structure of molecular nanocarbons, using nitrogen-containing cycloarenes and N-doped graphene nanoribbons as examples [5,6].

Together, these examples show how surface chemistry, microscopy, and spectroscopy can move beyond passive characterization toward the deliberate construction and testing of materials motifs. Such atomic-scale prototyping provides a powerful route to identify design principles, uncover structure–property relationships, and explore functional materials concepts relevant to energy conversion, storage, catalysis, and quantum technologies.

References[1] Q.T. Fan et al., J.M. Gottfried, Nat. Chem. 18, 959–966 (2026).

[2] Q.T. Fan et al., J.M. Gottfried, Science 372, 852-856 (2021).

[3] Z. Ruan et al., J.M. Gottfried, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 146, 3700-3709 (2024).

[4] Z. Ruan et al., J.M. Gottfried, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 147, 4862–4870 (2025).

[5] Z. Ruan et al., J.M. Gottfried, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 147, 43501-43508 (2025).

[6] Z. Ruan et al., J.M. Gottfried, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 164, e202504707 (2025).

To mitigate global climate change and improve sustainable resources, discovery of new, stable, and highly active photovoltaic and catalytic materials is a pressing issue. The efforts, so far, have focused on abundant, accessible, low-cost, stable alternatives that will yield process efficiencies comparable or better than those we have today. In electrocatalysis, the desired products are fuels and energy carriers for clean and sustainable energy sources, for instance, electrocatalytic reduction of CO2, which can lead to valuable molecules, such as CH4 and CH3OH. Another important reaction is water electrolysis, especially the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) anodic component, which can promote a H2 economy. The catalysts used by the industry today contain expensive and non-abundant elements such as Pt, Ir, and Ru. Furthermore, photovoltaic absorbers and selective contacts need to be improved for high efficiency and long-term stability, as current materials, such as halide perovskites are still not completely up to the task. Moreover, many of these materials are mostly prepared by wet chemical synthesis, which results in chemical waste and can be too slow for industrial use. These reasons emphasize the motivation to accelerate the process of finding new materials by systematic exploration of several parameter spaces.

Here I present the progress in the development of materials for energy conversion using high-throughput experimentation (HTE) techniques to form different types of material compositions and nanostructures as functional electrocatalysts and photovoltaic materials. I will discuss various types of high-throughput synthetic tools such as, sputtering and inkjet printing, that lead to huge parameter spaces. Post-processing of the material libraries includes high-throughput ex-situ, in-situ, and operando scanning systems, which are used investigate the chemical, physical, and morphological properties. I will examine several important techniques that have been developed in recent years and highlight aspects that still need to be improved on. Finally, I will conclude with new directions for HTE, especially in relation to full workflow integration with machine learning for developing new energy conversion materials.

Poly(para-phenylene) (PPP) is a rigid, π-conjugated polymer that has attracted considerable interest due to its exceptional thermal and chemical stability, mechanical robustness, and promising optoelectronic properties. These characteristics make PPP an attractive material for applications in organic electronics and energy storage. However, its broader utilization has been limited by significant synthetic challenges, including poor solubility, limited processability, and the difficulty of producing high-quality, defect-free polymers using conventional synthetic methods. Established approaches — including the Wurtz–Fittig, Kovacic, Yamamoto, and transition-metal-catalyzed cross-coupling polymerizations — typically require harsh reaction conditions, expensive catalysts, or environmentally undesirable solvents, limiting both sustainability and material purity.

In this work, we present Pyrolytic Radical Polymerization (PRP) as an alternative strategy for the synthesis of PPP. This thermally driven, solvent-free process provides a simple and potentially more sustainable route to conjugated polymers while minimizing solvent use and eliminating the need for transition-metal catalysts. The formation of PPP was verified using complementary structural and spectroscopic techniques: photoluminescence confirms the formation of extended π-conjugated domains, Raman and FTIR spectroscopy confirmed the characteristic molecular structure, PXRD reveals a highly crystalline material, and transmission electron microscopy revealed the polymer morphology and microstructure. These results demonstrate that PRP offers a promising route toward the sustainable synthesis of conjugated polymers with potential applications in organic electronic devices.

The European Union and United Nations are aiming sustainable development for good health and well-being by 2030. Previously, the focus was tilted towards democratization of electronics however currently aims to develop affordable personalised healthcare for everyone. Apart from all technical parameters, healthcare devices need to be sustainable in every aspect that offer multi-fold functionalities that are conformable when wore or implanted. With such considerations, several electronic devices are commercially available in the market for several healthcare applications in form of wearables, implantable and optical lenses. However, development of such electronic devices requires dedicated materials that are mechanically rigid and offer constrains towards conformal adhesion with wet, highly textured and small bending radii targets. Therefore, this workshop presentation aims to explain the fabrication of electronic components using sustainable polymers that can be integrated with conventional wafer-based electronics for ease in telemetry which is part of my doctorate degree from Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (SSSA) and Italian Institute of Technology (IIT). The presentation consists of three core parts with the aim to fabricate implantable sensing modules for the European EIC Pathfinder Challenges project (grant Number: 101115545) entitled In-vessel implantable smart sensing device for personalised medicine (IV Lab), led by my doctorate supervisor Dr. Virgilio Mattoli from Italian Institute of Technology. The first part aims to develop freestanding ultra-thin (below 200 nm) polymeric films as mechanically robust and electrically active materials for broad-range sensing. In the second part, I aim to utilise such ultrathin polymeric films for developing high-resolution strain and pressure sensing modules for easy integration into miniaturized in-vessel implantable devices. The third section leads to focus on the fabrication of pressure-sensing module for mass-manufacturing which is widely acceptable for semiconductor-industry scale fabrication processes.

Solid-state inorganic proton conductors have raised a lot of interest in the last few years. One of these proton conductors is La2Ce2O7 (LCO50). This material competes with existing proton conductors such as polymers (e.g. Nafion), which have problems of compatibility with other materials and of conductivity under dry conditions.

In this presentation, I will discuss the fabrication and impedance measurements of LCO50 thin films. I will show the effect of hydration on films deposited at 733 K, and discuss the improved properties of nanocrystalline LCO50 deposited at room temperature. The latter spontaneously hydrates at ambient conditions and shows relatively high conductivity even at room temperature. I will demonstrate the applicability of these films by fabricating electrochromic devices, in which nanocrystalline LCO50 functions as the electrolyte, counter electrode and reservoir, while the active colour-changing layer is amorphous WOx. The ability of nanocrystalline LCO50 to act as counter electrode comes from the small amount of Ce³⁺ it contains: in parallel to the reduction of WOx by protons, these Ce³⁺ ions undergo oxidation from Ce³⁺ to Ce⁴⁺. The electrochromic device works from room temperature to at least 363 K, upon applying a voltage of −3 V, without any sign of degradation.

Perovskites have emerged as a leading material of interest in the development of next-generation photovoltaic technologies, offering tunable bandgaps and low-temperature processing. Although the active layer is typically fabricated using solution-based methods, dry vacuum-based techniques have emerged as an appealing alternative with the potential for large-area manufacturing. Interestingly, the relationship between deposition parameters and device properties proves complex due to competing factors in the film. In this work, we first investigate how substrate temperatures from −20 °C to 70 °C influence the growth and device-relevant properties of co-evaporated formamidinium–methylammonium lead iodide (FAMAPI) films, before further optimizing device performance through a novel grain-boundary passivation technique enabled by in-situ photoluminescence (PL) measurements. Together with standard ex-situ characterization, in-situ PL monitoring enables a more complete assessment of film quality by offering a real-time indication during deposition.

A systematic assessment of the structural, optical, and compositional characteristics across the stated temperature range was carried out using ex-situ techniques such as X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and optical spectroscopy. After selecting an optimal substrate temperature, a small amount of passivating agent was added to the FAMAPI deposition, guided by in-situ PL so as to minimize non-radiative recombination losses. Overall, this work provides early insight into the temperature-dependent crystallization pathways of evaporated FAMAPI perovskites and establishes a framework for correlating in-situ photoluminescence with device-relevant film quality. These findings highlight in-situ PL as a powerful lever for tuning vacuum-processed perovskites and point toward new strategies for optimizing their performance in photovoltaic applications.

With the goal of developing a technologically friendly, water- and CO₂-stable ceramic proton conductor operating below 473 K, we have investigated the hydration of LaxCe1−xO2−x/2 (LCO). We found that for x > 0.5 it decomposes to La(OH)3 and CeO2 upon contact with water or water vapor. For x < 0.4, no hydration was achieved during exposure to 1 atm steam for more than 14 days, limiting our investigation to LCO40, LCO45, and LCO50. Exposure of LCO50 ceramics to PH2O = 1 atm at 200 °C leads to a maximum hydration of fh = 4.4 ± 0.2%; for other compositions the degree of hydration at this pressure is even lower.

For all compositions, hydration causes lattice expansion, leading to near-surface shear stress and subsequent cracking, which prevents electrical and mechanical measurements. Increasing the temperature at PH2O = 1 atm alleviates cracking due to increased vacancy mobility but does not increase fh, because dehydration occurs above 350 °C. To address this, we developed a hydration chamber (pressure vessel) in which water is introduced and controlled by the decomposition of CoSO4·7H2O. This method does not allow independent control of pressure and temperature but sets a unique dependence between them via the thermodynamics of CoSO4·7H2O dehydration.

At 400 °C and PH2O = 56 ± 3 atm, hydration of LCO50 still poses a problem because the high PH2O drives the material close to decomposition, even though a relative lattice expansion Δd/d > 0.5% can be achieved. For LCO40, Δd/d < 0.1% and fh < 8%. For LCO45, Δd/d > 0.43% and fh > 38.5% — surprisingly the maximum achievable at these conditions irrespective of the exposure time (5–120 h). The volume per mole of water absorbed drops by a factor of three in the range fh = 0–38.5%, suggesting some long-range proton interactions. Hydration causes an approximately 10–40-fold increase in electrical conductivity in the range 383–483 K. However, even if the conductivity is proton-dominated, the activation energy remains ~0.8 eV, about twice that of doped BaZrO₃ proton conductors. Although hydrated LCO45 and BaZrO₃ have similar proton concentrations and oxygen–oxygen distances, the proton mobility in LCO45 is 100 times lower. Hydration does not affect the elastic or electrostrictive properties of LCO, suggesting that protons interact with only one oxygen ion at a time and can freely reorient around it. Preliminary neutron diffraction data support this interpretation and indicate possible strategies for improving conductivity.

The transition to sustainable energy systems requires efficient electrochemical conversion processes that enable hydrogen production, fuel-cell electricity generation, and CO₂ reduction into value-added products. Multi-element catalysts offer tunable properties driven by synergistic electronic and physical effects, yet their vast compositional space complicates their discovery. The challenge is amplified by the absence of automated analysis tools that can reliably extract composition–property relationships.

In this work, we developed automated voltammetry analysis pipelines to extract key electrochemical performance descriptors, such as onset potential, overpotential, and peak current density. These descriptors are visualized and correlated with elemental composition, revealing composition–property trends and pointing out high-performance catalyst regions.

Expanding this data-driven framework to structural mapping, we apply Gaussian process models to predict crystallographic phases across a compositional high-entropy oxide library from analyzed X-ray diffraction measurements. To minimize experimental cost, we implement active-learning strategies based on predictive uncertainty to guide sample selection, enabling efficient reconstruction of the phase distribution across the library. Next steps will include generalizing these strategies to additional libraries and implementing shared-learning concepts, aiming toward fully autonomous systems.

The heterogeneous catalyst plays an essential role in modern chemistry industry, accounting for around 85 % of catalytic process. However, their operation under realistic conditions remains incompletely understood. The heterogeneous catalysts surfaces are intrinsically dynamic, continuously evolving in response to the chemical environment. In practice, time-resolved spectroscopic measurements of catalytic reactions are commonly treated as steady-state processes. The dynamic signal fluctuations are often regarded as experimental noise and routinely averaged out, potentially obscuring signatures of underlying surface dynamics. Here, we uncovered the hidden structure from our ‘noise’ by quantifying deviations between the experimental intensity distribution and the theoretical Poisson distribution governed by photon statistics using Kullback–Leibler (KL) divergence analysis. Deviations from the photon statistical baseline reveal correlated oscillatory surface dynamics driven by coverage-dependent surface reconstruction.

Silk is an exquisite, high-performance natural fiber, but in comparison with synthetic fibers it is not a consolidated material — it is a process-dependent protein assembly whose structure and properties emerge from controlled pathways of folding, fibrillation, dehydration, and post-processing.

My research uses a reverse-engineering approach: native silk fibers are dissolved and then reconstructed into native-like fibers with comparable morphology and mechanical performance. This method provides a platform for identifying the physicochemical rules governing silk assembly and for tuning regenerated silk via variables such as solvent environment, ionic strength, shear, and post-treatment. The broader aim is to develop a toolkit for programming fibrillar protein biomaterials, enabling renewable and biodegradable materials whose performance is designed through assembly rather than imposed by energy-intensive synthetic processing.

Perovskite solar cell efficiency (PCE) has increased significantly in very few years compared to any other photovoltaic (PV) technology. At present, a PCE > 26% has been reported for a single-junction perovskite solar cell (PSC), matching the record of crystalline silicon PV. Perovskites are well-suited for semi-transparent solar cells (ST-PSCs), enabling their integration into building structures and applications in agrivoltaics, tandem solar cells, and flexible photovoltaics. Moreover, inverted PSCs in the (p-i-n) architecture, with their low-temperature processability, offer better compatibility with flexible structures compared to conventional ones.

Driven by the goal of fabricating efficient semi-transparent flexible perovskite solar cells with semi-transparent contacts, and noting that semi-transparent inverted PSCs are less represented in the literature, we are currently focusing on the optimization of common layers to introduce the best semi-transparent contact. Furthermore, since N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) and chlorobenzene (CB) — respectively the most used perovskite solvent and antisolvent — are known to have negative environmental and health impacts, we process our perovskite in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), a safer alternative to DMF, and use anisole (ANI) as antisolvent, a potential green antisolvent that can replace CB since their properties are very similar.

Increasing concentrations of CO₂ in the atmosphere are significantly impacting climate change, leading to a global temperature increase of over 1.5 °C on average — the highest since pre-industrial levels. This is very close to the upper limit established during the 2015 Paris Agreement (2 °C). Thus, the need to close the anthropogenic CO₂ cycle is more critical than ever. Electrocatalytic reduction offers an alternative green method to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and form value-added chemicals and sustainable fuels. However, several challenges must be addressed before this process can become feasible on an industrial level, including low product selectivity, low Faradaic efficiency, and stability issues. To overcome these challenges, new catalysts with the desired characteristics must be developed and investigated.

Here we focus on a new ternary oxide system, Cu-Sn-Ga-O, chosen for the specific activities that each metal oxide has on its own, and investigate its electrocatalytic activity towards CO₂ reduction. The system is formed as a materials library (ML) with compositional gradients of the different constituent metals. The libraries were deposited as films using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Characterization of the MLs was carried out using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to study morphology, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) to examine compositional variation, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to determine the crystalline structures. The ML activity is studied using a home-built scanning electrochemical system coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) for in-situ gas product detection.

The transition to a hydrogen-based economy relies on the development of efficient, cost-effective catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) that are not based on platinum or other noble metals. Current research focuses on first-row transition-metal complexes capable of operating at low overpotentials while delivering high catalytic activity and turnover frequencies. In this context, we report a striking influence of peripheral bromination on the structural, electronic, and catalytic properties of an already electron-deficient cobalt corrole complex. Bromide substitution induces a significant deviation of the macrocycle from planarity and a perpendicular orientation of the axial pyridine ligands, leading to a 70 nm red shift in the electronic absorption spectrum and more facile reduction potentials. The brominated cobalt corrole demonstrates efficient HER catalysis from an organic acid in acetonitrile, with a remarkably low onset potential of −0.96 V vs Fc⁺/Fc. Moreover, when employed as a cathode modifier for electrolysis in acidic aqueous media, the complex catalyzes hydrogen evolution with 97% Faradaic efficiency at potentials as low as −0.4 V vs RHE.

Supramolecular engineering provides a versatile platform for tailoring the properties of conventional photoredox catalysts through self-assembly, thereby expanding their applications in modern synthetic methodologies via noncovalent interactions with diverse chemical components. In this work, pyrazine- and phenanthro[9,10-d]imidazole-based π-conjugated building blocks were rationally designed and synthesized to construct self-assembled architectures in mixed aqueous media. These photosensitizing assemblies were further employed to fabricate a cobalt-based supramolecular nanoensemble, which exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity for the visible-light-driven aerobic oxidation of a broad range of alcohols to the corresponding aldehydes/ketones, as well as for the one-pot synthesis of quinazolin-4(3H)-ones. Furthermore, the structure–activity relationship of metal-free twisted donor–acceptor–donor (D–A–D) systems was systematically investigated to develop efficient type I photosensitizing photocatalytic assemblies. Structural modulation of the π-conjugated framework enabled effective generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), resulting in enhanced photocatalytic performance for the synthesis of quinazolin-4(3H)-ones under mild reaction conditions.

The increasing concentration of atmospheric CO₂ and the continued reliance on fossil-based energy systems highlight the urgent need for technologies that enable both carbon mitigation and sustainable fuel production. Electrochemical CO₂ reduction (CO₂RR) offers a compelling pathway to convert CO₂ into value-added chemicals and fuels using renewable electricity. However, the development of selective, stable, and earth-abundant catalysts remains a central challenge. Many existing catalysts suffer from poor product selectivity, insufficient activity at practical current densities, or limited long-term stability, which restricts their applicability in scalable CO₂ conversion systems.

Mixed-metal oxide catalysts, particularly those adopting the spinel structure, have emerged as promising candidates due to their tunable composition, well-defined active sites, and intrinsic structural robustness under electrochemical environments. Yet the fundamental relationships between spinel composition, thin-film structure, and CO₂RR selectivity are still not fully understood; addressing this knowledge gap is essential for rational catalyst design.

In this work, Cu–Fe spinel oxide thin films are synthesized using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) to investigate their catalytic performance toward selective CO₂RR. The films are characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to assess their morphology, composition, and crystalline structure. Electrochemical measurements are performed using a scanning electrochemical setup coupled with online mass spectrometry (MS), enabling real-time detection of gaseous products. This combined approach provides insight into the relationship between film composition, structure, and catalytic selectivity, contributing to the rational design of efficient and stable oxide-based CO₂RR catalysts.

Complex biological systems contain particles and cells that differ not only in size, but also in internal complexity and organizational state. Conventional separation methods often rely on labels and provide limited information about how individual components are physically arranged within multicellular or microbial assemblies. In this work, I investigate whether passive microfluidic fractionation can be used both to separate biological particles according to their physical properties and to reveal the structural organization of complex aggregates.

A multi-outlet spiral microfluidic device was developed to continuously and non-destructively fractionate heterogeneous biological suspensions through inertial and Dean-flow effects. In peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples, the device produced outlet-dependent enrichment according to cell size and FSC/SSC-associated properties. In marine microbial systems, the same platform enriched single bacterial cells from multicellular rosettes and enabled differentiation between free-living bacteria and bacteria physically associated with algal aggregates. These results demonstrate that passive microfluidics can function not only as a label-free sorting method, but also as an analytical tool for identifying hidden physical states and organizational relationships within complex biological systems.

Supplying energy to sensors and robots through sustainable energy conversion using environmental energy sources such as water flow is of increasing need. It has been shown that bio-based materials, like operculum beeswax, produce high voltages in electrohydrodynamic energy generators. Here, we show how to optimize the electrode arrangement in a beeswax-based energy harvester to tackle the common issue of the dependency between the droplet falling zone and the top electrode. The energy conversion of single droplets landing on the flexible material can power 100 LEDs instantaneously and charge a 50 µF capacitor that drives an electromagnetic actuator and a thermosensor as proof-of-concept. The results show that sustainable, natural materials can be used to power crucial components in robots.

Tin oxide (SnO₂) thin films are widely used as electron transport layers in perovskite solar cells due to their high electron selectivity, conductivity, transparency, and chemical stability. Unlike TiO₂, SnO₂ can be deposited at low temperatures (e.g., CVD, ALD, magnetron sputtering), making it compatible with flexible substrates. However, SnO₂ films contain interfacial defects such as oxygen vacancies (Vₒ) and surface hydroxyl groups (Sn–OH). While controlled Vₒ concentrations can improve conductivity, excessive or non-uniform vacancies introduce trap states, enhance recombination, and reduce device stability. Therefore, precise control over both the concentration and spatial distribution of oxygen vacancies remains a key challenge.

In this work I use PLD to create a model system where the intrinsic inhomogeneity of the PLD process causes the oxygen content to vary continuously across the substrate, starting from the center of deposition — essentially forming a library of varying oxygen vacancies in the SnOₓ thin film. I anticipate that systematic changes in important material properties, such as electronic conductivity, carrier density, defect density, and crystallinity, will result from the gradient of oxygen vacancies and film thickness across the surface. The local characteristics of these oxygen-graded films will be carefully mapped, and work-function analysis and electrical properties will be evaluated using sheet-resistance measurements across the substrate.

The immense research on hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts is motivated by its potential as a clean energy carrier in contrast with polluting fossil fuels. Conventional water electrolysis relies on the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), whose high overpotential limits overall efficiency, motivating the exploration of alternative anodic reactions. Among these, the electrocatalytic urea oxidation reaction (UOR) has attracted growing interest due to its lower thermodynamic potential and its potential contribution to wastewater remediation. In this work, heteroatom-doped carbon nanomaterials are introduced as a versatile support for the stabilization and dispersion of metal-based electrocatalysts, enabling improved catalytic performance in both HER and UOR. When combined with palladium and nickel, these hybrid materials exhibit enhanced activity and selectivity, which were assessed using complementary electrochemical and in-situ spectroscopic techniques. The practical relevance of this approach is demonstrated in a two-electrode urea electrolyzer, achieving efficient hydrogen production at reduced cell voltage with high Faradaic efficiency. Overall, this study highlights the critical role of engineered carbon supports in improving catalyst stability, activity, and reaction pathways, offering insights for the design of advanced electrocatalytic systems for sustainable hydrogen production.