The scientific interests of the Chemical-Physical Processes (IPCF) center around the study of condensed matter with particular attention to the thermodynamics of the collective processes responsible for the behavior and properties of materials on a mesoscopic scale. Such an intrinsically interdisciplinary activity is characterized by strong international competitiveness, touching aspects relevant to physics, chemistry and materials engineering. Research objectives move from interests purely motivated by scientific curiosity, such as the understanding of the general mechanisms underlying phenomena of self-aggregation and self-organization responsible for the macroscopic properties of complex systems, and then turn to the design and characterization of materials for specific applications and technology transfer in strategic areas as sensors, environment, energy, health, aerospace, cultural heritage with major technological implications, such as: development of organic nanostructures and semiconductors for electronic and photovoltaic applications, development of sensors with plasmonic nanomaterials (SERS, TERS, TERS imaging, etc.), creation of materials with predetermined properties (mechanical, thermal, optical, magnetic, electrical).
What We Are Doing
Research activities carried on at IPCF are intrinsically inter-disciplinary, spanning chemical, physical, life science topics, and their interrelation with key assets for materials, energy, cultural heritage, health, and environment. Different areas in soft and condensed matter are covered:
- Life Science, for isolation, reconstitution and investigation of biomaterials for energy conversion, molecular recognition and tissue interaction;
- Materials science, for synthesis of nanostructured materials, both inorganic and organic, 2D materials, and their manipulation and self-organization for optoelectronic, biomedical, energy, and environmental applications;
- Design and optical characterization of nanoaggregates, interfaces, and hybrid systems of photochemical interest, for sustainable energy generation and catalysis;
- Physico-chemical characterization of thermal, electrical, and optical properties of materials and systems of interest, by dedicated development of advanced analytical tools and methodology with ultrahigh sensitivity;
- Environmental acoustics for the evaluation of environmental noise exposure from anthropogenic sources, for comparisons with normative limits or for health-effects evaluations, acoustic modelling of transport infrastructures, wind farms, industries, strategic planning of innovative mitigation solutions, acoustic beamforming;
- Multi-scale computational modelling of molecules, supramolecular systems, and hybrid interfaces for applications in medicine, (bio-)optoelectronics, and catalysis.