Characterization of the photochemical, photophysical and
electrochemical properties of supramolecular systems and
nanostructures aimed to the development of innovative materials in
the fields of sensors, diagnostric, imaging and energy conversion.
Particular interest is devoted to: (1) Synthesis and
charaterization of gold, siliver, silica or hybrid (core-shell)
nanoparticles. (2) Derivatization of the nanoparticles surfaces
with luminescent or redox active species. (3) Design and
characterization of luminescent chemosensors for optical
applications. (4) Synthesis and characterization of sensor films on
different substrates (glass, quartz, gold).
1-Nanoparticles. Synthesis and characterization of gold,
silver and metal-core-silica-shell nanoparticles. The
sysnthetic tecniques have been developed in order to allow the
doping of the materials, size control and surface modification with
photo- redox active molecules. These hetero-supra-molcular species
are very interesting model for the investigation of the fundamental
photoinduced processes and, in the mean time, thanks to their
versatility are suitable for several applications. Core-shell
nanoparticles can be exploited as structures for investigating
luminescent quenching and enhancement due to the interaction of a
fluorophore with a metal core. Nanoparticles are also very
versitile architecture for self organizing and connecting molecular
moieties in order to design nanodevices. Adsorption onto surfaces
or cross-linking can also be exploited to organize nanoparticles
into lattice and superstructures.
2-Luminescent sensors. Design, synthesis and characterization of
luminescent chemosensors for different metal ions and other target
analyte of environmental (pollutants as Hg) or biological (K, Mg,
Ca,..) interest, in collaboration with other italian or
international groups. The research in this field is aimed to contol
the selectivity and the affinty of the chemosensors toward specific
targets. Particular attention is devoted to the development of
superstructures where cooperative processes may allow
collective effects to take place and lead to
amplification of the sensor response.
3-Interfacing the molecular and nanosized systems to the
macroscopic world is essential from the applicative point of
view. Immobilization of chemosensors onto substrates, for
example, is necessary to exploit their detection ability in
real time and to avoid contamination of the measurement
environment. Research in this filed is aimed to the
control of the surface modification processes in order to optimize
the activity and the signal.
