NanoLeaves Lab is a group of synthetic chemists settled at the Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry of the University of Pisa. The research activity fits in the fields of Organic Chemistry and Materials Science. At NanoLeaves Lab, we develop new materials and explore their new and exciting applications in the fields of Chemistry, Technology, and Optoelectronics. We are interested in the preparation and functionalization of organic materials including biomaterials from natural sources, with an eye to nanocellulose and cellulose nanocrystals and to other biopolymers.
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During these first months of 2021 I have published two papers concerning my previous research activities started at the University of Bari Aldo Moro. Among my specializations, I am expert in the synthesis and characterization of conjugated materials based on arylenethienylene structures. The first of these studies describes the preparation and characterization of diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) and thiophene -based oligomers, decorated with -SAc groups. This work is the natural evolution of my PhD thesis, that was centered on the preparation of thiol oligoarylenes for molecular electronics.
The reductive amination reaction is an interesting tool to achieve one terminus functionalization of cellulose nanocrystals. Since at NanoLeaves laboratory we are interested in novel applications of CNCs, we have used pyrene luminescence to understand if the new functionality introduced on CNCs may interact preferentially with some metal cations. In our work we compare the behavior of reductively aminated CNCs deriving from sulfuric acid hydrolysis or hydrochloric acid hydrolysis (that we named neutral CNC, N_CNC). Pyrene luminescence in water is used as a probe to understand if some selective or preferential interaction with metal cation achieves involving the pyrene portion of the nanocrystals.
Dr. Mariacecilia Pasini, Prof. Varun Vhora and Prof. Alessandra Operamolla are the Guest Editors of the special Issue entitled “Sustainable Materials and Processes for Organic Electronics” proposed for the journal Sustainability (Publisher MDPI) with deadline October 21st 2021. The special issue will put chief attention to sustainable materials, processes, energy production and devices linked to the world of thin film organic and non organic electronics. The issue represents a nice opportunity to collect contributions by researchers from all over the world, showing the current trends of the topic.
A new paper, released in 2021, collects our results on the electrochemical and physico-chemical investigation performed on Langmuir-Shaefer co-deposited films of sulfated cellulose nanocrystals and fulleropyrrolidines (FP). The work is done in collaboration between the University of Pisa, the University of Salento and the University of Trieste, and extends the results and the comprehension on these exciting new hybrid films, previously presented for the first time on the journal Carbon in 2020 by the same group of investigators.
NANOLEAVES - Research Group at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Pisa
Via Giuseppe Moruzzi, 13 - 56124 Pisa, Italy
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