Her research activity can be placed in the field of photochemistry and electrochemistry of molecules and supramolecular systems. For more details see: http://www.ciam.unibo.it/paolaceroni/research
The three main topics are:
1. Luminescent nanoparticles
This research is mainly focused on the synthesis and characterization of silicon nanocrystals (SiNCs) within the ERC StG project PhotoSi. It is aimed at coupling SiNCs with organic chromophores to be employed in the field of light energy conversion (Chem. Mater. 2016, 28, 6664), light-harvesting antennae (J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2014, 5, 3325; Top. Curr. Chem. 2016, 374, 53) and bioimaging (Chem 2017, in press).
2. Photo- and redox-active dendrimers
Dendrimers are macromolecules with well-defined structure and contain several functional units confined in a restricted space of nanometric dimension. The design and study of the photophysical and electrochemical properties of dendrimers is aimed to their use in different fields:
- light-harvesting antennae (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 6395) with possible applications in solar cells, devices for energy upconversion (Chem. Commun. 2011, 47, 12780) and artificial photosynthesis;
- photocontrolled nanocontainers (see J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 10714) in view of drug-delivery system with controlled release;
- luminescent sensors with signal amplification (Coord. Chem. Rev. 2011, 255, 2458);
- molecular batteries to store charges (see Chem. Eur. J. 2008, 14, 8365) in view of flexible batteries.
3. Luminescent mono- and polynuclear metal complexes
The photophysics and electrochemistry of metal complexes containing Ru(II), Os(II), Ir(III), Cu(I), or lanthanide ions is investigated to elucidate photoinduced energy and/or electron transfer processes (see e.g. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 5422). Some of them are also interesting as luminescent materials in LED (Light Emitting Diode). Aggregation induced phosphorescence is another topic of interest for sensing and optical devices (Coord. Chem. Rev. 2017, DOI: 10.1016/j.ccr.2017.01.006).
This work is of interest for basic research ,as well as for technologies such as solar energy conversion, drug delivery in the human body, and luminescent materials for LED, and sensing applications.
