h 15:00 – Aula U1.1. MO51
Graphene and new monoatomic materials:
using 2-dimensional nanosheets in a 3-dimensional world
Vincenzo Palermo
National Research Council of Italy, CNR-ISOF, Bologna
Graphene is a 2-dimensional layer of carbon atoms, arranged in a honeycomb lattice. At the beginning of its exciting life, graphene was mostly a game for physicists.
Later on, new methods to produce graphene on large scale were developed, based on the chemical processing of graphite in solution or on the chemical growth of graphene on metals.
Using chemistry it is possible to effectively tailor this poorly soluble and almost chemically inert material into a wide variety of forms. During the last years, the chemistry of graphene has played an ever increasing role in the controlled functionalization, large-scale production, processing and in numerous applications of such material, being also used to produce new 2D monoatomic materials (as example, BN, MoS2, WS2 etc.).
In this talk, I will describe how we use covalent, supramolecular and electrochemical techniques to obtain graphene-based solutions and process them in novel composite materials. We exploit in this way the 2-dimensional nature of these materials to produce porous membranes, thin coatings, foams or polymer composites for applications in electronics, mechanics, biomaterials or energy storage.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Not a molecule, not a polymer, not a substrate … the many faces of graphene as a chemical platform, Chemical Communications, Emerging investigators special issue, (2013) 49, 2848.
- Interaction of graphene-related materials with human intestinal cells: an in vitro approach, Nanoscale, (2016) 8, 8749.
- Supramolecular self-assembly of graphene oxide and metal nanoparticles into stacked multilayers by means of a multitasking protein ring, Nanoscale, (2016) 8, 6739.
- Nanoscale Mechanics of Graphene and Graphene Oxide in Composites: A Scientific and Technological Perspective,Advanced Materials, (2016) 28, 6232.
- Soft confinement of water in graphene-oxide membranes, Carbon, (2016) 108, 199.
Biosketch
Vincenzo Palermo is the leader of the research unit on Advanced Materials of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR), at the Institute for Organic Synthesis and Photoreactivity (ISOF). He uses nanotechnology and supramolecular chemistry to create new materials for mechanical, electronics and energy applications. He previously worked at the University of Utrecht (the Netherlands) and at National Research Council (Ottawa, Canada).
He was one of the founders of the GRAPHENE FLAGSHIP European initiative, where he actually coordinates the work package on polymer composites. He is author of >125 papers on ISI journals, and has given >55 invited talks at international conferences in last 5 years.
In 2013 he has been awarded the Research Award of the Italian Society of Chemistry (SCI).
In 2012 he has been awarded the Lecturer Award for Excellence of the Federation of European Materials Societies.
In parallel to his scientific activity, Vincenzo Palermo is involved in science dissemination and communication. Since 2014 he works as columnist for the scientific magazine “Sapere”.
He has published dissemination books for the general audience on the life and science of Albert Einstein (Hoepli, 2015) and of Isaac Newton (Hoepli, 2016)