Solar Fuels and Functional Materials for Smart Energy Systems
Specific mission
SAMSES gathers highly qualified scientists from different disciplines (biochemistry, chemistry, chemical engineering, physics, materials science) to face the challenges of the new emerging research fields of solar energy conversion into solar fuels and chemicals (e.g. CO2 reduction, photolysis of water, photosynthesis in plants, microalgae, cyanobacteria) via biochemical techniques as well as the development of advanced functional materials for intensified heat exchange and fire-resistance (e.g. polymers nano-composites based on graphene or nano-tubes). The related experimental activities are complemented by the development of computational tools for multiscale modelling of property transfer and fluctuations in the diverse materials and systems considered, as well as the adoption of process modeling and life-cycle assessment software.
BIOSOLAR LAB
Specific mission
Study of aspects of the photosynthesis in plants, microalgae and cyanobacteria regarding the structural and functional organization of Photosystem II and its dynamics in different light conditions.
Main Research topics
- Study of the structural organization of plant photosynthetic protein complexes and thylakoid membranes and their dynamics in response to light variations
- Study of photoinhibition in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 grown in photobioreactors
Main Partnerships
- Prof. Giuseppe Zanotti, University of Padova (protein structure analysis)
- Prof. Tomas Morosinotto, University of Padova (photosynthetic functional analysis)
- Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia-Center for Sustainable Future Technologies Torino (transmission electron microscopy)
- ISALIT, spin-off of University of Piemonte Orientale (mass spectrometry analysis)
- Dr. Jon Nield, Queen Mary University of London (Photosystem II structural analysis)
- Prof. James Barber, Imperial College London (Photosystem II structural analysis)
- Prof. Jose-Maria Carazo, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología–CSIC, Madrid (3D electron microscopy)
- Prof. Klaas Hellingwerf and e Prof. Filipe Branco dos Santos, Universiteit van Amsterdam (photobioreactors and cyanobacteria)
FUNCTIONAL POLYMER NANOCOMPOSITES
Specific mission
Research and development of thermally conductive polymer nanocomposites and flame retarded polymer formulations.
Research and development Thermal storage materials and devices
Research and development of Layer by layer coatings on differnt polymeric substartes, mainly for flame retardancy and gas barrier.
Exploitation of nanocellulose in functional materials
Main Research topics
Chemical functionalization of graphene for the manufacturing of conductive polyerm nanocomposites
Multiscale modelling (DFT, MD, FEM) of heat transfer in nanocomposites
Preparation techniques for polymer nanocomposites: solvent processing, melt mixing, polymerization in extrusion
Layer by Layer deposition techniques
Study of reaction to flames for nanostructured materials in bulk and nanostructured coatings on polymer films and foams
Study of gas barrier for graphene-based nanostructured coatings
Main Partnerships
- Prof Paolo Samorì, Institut de Science et d'Ingénierie Supramoléculaires (ISIS) of the Université de Strasbourg (F)
- Dr. Bohayra Mortazavi, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (D)
- Dr. Alessandro Pecchia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, ISMN Monterotondo, (I)
- Prof Rafael Gutierrez, Technische Universität Dresden (D)
- Prof. Ian Kinlock, School of Materials, The University of Manchester (UK)
- Prof. Andrea Ferrari, Cambridge Graphene Centre, The University of Cambridge (UK)
- Prof. Orietta Monticelli, Università di Genova (I)
- Dr. Marco Monti, Consorzio Proplast (I)
- Dr. Julio Gomez, Avanzare (E)
- Prof. Gaetano Guerra, Università di Salerno (I)
- Prof Rongjie Yang, National Engineering research Centre of Flame Retardant Materials, Beijing Institute of technology (China)
- Prof Jamie Grunlan, Texas A&M University (US)
- Prof Lars Berglund, KTH - School of Chemistry (SE)
- Prof.ssa Giada Lo Re, Division of Engineering Materials, Department of Industrial and Materials Science, Chalmers University of Technology
Projects and publications
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Selected funded research projects
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FUTURICT 2.0 - LARGE SCALE EXPERIMENTS AND SIMULATIONS FOR THE SECOND GENERATION OF FUTURICT
CARBONE ANNA FILOMENA
2017 - 2020 (Completed) -
DESIGN, MANUFACTURING AND CONTROL OF INTERFACES IN THERMALLY CONDUCTIVE POLYMER NANOCOMPOSITES — INTHERM
FINA ALBERTO
2015 - 2020 (Completed) -
STRUTTURA E DINAMICHE STRUTTURALI DEL SUPERCOMPLESSO DEL FOTOSISTEMA II IN PIANTE SUPERIORI ESPOSTE A DIVERSE TIPOLOGIE DI LUCE INCIDENTE
PAGLIANO CRISTINA
2014 - 2017 (Completed) -
QWIP2002 - INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON QUANTUM WELL INFRARED PHOTODETECTORS
CARBONE ANNA FILOMENA
2002 - 2002 (Completed)
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FUTURICT 2.0 - LARGE SCALE EXPERIMENTS AND SIMULATIONS FOR THE SECOND GENERATION OF FUTURICT
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Selected recent publications
2019-
Structural and functional differentiation of the light‐harvesting protein Lhcb4 during land plant diversification
Article
Albanese, Pascal; Manfredi, Marcello; Marengo, Emilio; Saracco, Guido; Pagliano, Cristina
PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM
Wiley
Vol.166 pp.15 (pp.336-350) ISSN:0031-9317 DOI:10.1111/ppl.12964 -
Hydrated Salt/Graphite/Polyelectrolyte Organic-Inorganic Hybrids for Efficient Thermochemical Storage
Article
Salviati, Sergio; Carosio, Federico; Saracco, Guido; Fina, Alberto
NANOMATERIALS
MDPI
Vol.9 pp.11 ISSN:2079-4991 DOI:10.3390/nano9030420
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Breaking the Nanoparticle Loading-Dispersion Dichotomy in Polymer Nanocomposites with the Art of Croissant-Making
Article
Santagiuliana, Giovanni; Picot, Olivier T.; Crespo, Maria; Porwal, Harshit; Zhang, Han; Li, Yan; Rubini, Luca; Colonna, Samuele; Fina, Alberto; Barbieri, Ettore; Spoelstra, Anne B.; Mirabello, Giulia; Patterson, Joseph P.; Botto, Lorenzo; Pugno, Nicola M.; Peijs, Ton; Bilotti, Emiliano
ACS NANO
American Chemical Society
Vol.12 pp.11 (pp.9040-9050) ISSN:1936-0851 DOI:10.1021/acsnano.8b02877 -
Graphene Oxide Exoskeleton to Produce Self‐Extinguishing, Nonignitable, and Flame Resistant Flexible Foams: A Mechanically Tough Alternative to Inorganic Aerogels
Article
Carosio, Federico; Maddalena, Lorenza; Gomez, Julio; Saracco, Guido; Fina, Alberto
ADVANCED MATERIALS INTERFACES
WILEY-VCH
Vol.5 pp.9 ISSN:2196-7350 DOI:10.1002/admi.201801288 -
Thylakoids proteome modulation in pea plants grown at different irradiances — A quantitative proteomic profiling in a non-model organism aided by transcriptomic data integration
Article
Albanese, P.; Manfredi, M.; Re, A.; Marengo, E.; Saracco, G.; Pagliano, C
PLANT JOURNAL
John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Vol.96 pp.15 (pp.786-800) ISSN:0960-7412 DOI:10.1111/tpj.14068 -
Response of the thylakoid proteome of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 to photohinibitory intensities of orange-red light
Article
Cordara, A.; Manfredi, M.; van Alphen, P.; Marengo, E.; Pirone, R.; Saracco, G.; Branco dos Santos, F.; Hellingwerf, K. J.; Pagliano, C
PLANT PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY
Elsevier
Vol.132 pp.11 (pp.524-534) ISSN:0981-9428 DOI:10.1016/j.plaphy.2018.10.002 -
All-natural and highly flame-resistant freeze-cast foams based on phosphorylated cellulose nanofibrils
Article
Ghanadpour, Maryam; Wicklein, Bernd; Carosio, Federico; Wågberg, Lars
NANOSCALE
Royal Society of Chemistry
Vol.10 pp.11 (pp.4085-4095) ISSN:2040-3364 DOI:10.1039/c7nr09243a -
Edge-Grafted Molecular Junctions between Graphene Nanoplatelets: Applied Chemistry to Enhance Heat Transfer in Nanomaterials
Article
Bernal, Maria del Mar; Di Pierro, Alessandro; Novara, Chiara; Giorgis, Fabrizio; Mortazavi, Bohayra; Saracco, Guido; Fina, Alberto
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
Wiley-VCH Verlag
pp.12 ISSN:1616-301X DOI:10.1002/adfm.201706954
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Structural and functional differentiation of the light‐harvesting protein Lhcb4 during land plant diversification
Reference laboratories
- BioSolar Laboratory
- Chemical preparation laboratory - Alessandria
- Flame tests laboratory
- INTHERM laboratory - ERC Starting Grant Laboratory
- Polymer characterization Laboratory
- Surfaces Laboratory 1
- Surfaces Laboratory 2
- Technology Laboratory

- ALBANESE PASCAL
- BATTAGLINO BEATRICE
- DI PIERRO ALESSANDRO
- FERRARO GIUSEPPE
- MADDALENA LORENZA
- SALVIATI SERGIO