Ricerc@Sapienza

Thermo-sensitive liquid crystals may result, for some aspects, good host materials for plasmonic nanoparticles. In particular they are suitable to study and measure the temperature variations produced by photo-induced plasmonic joule effect in the metallic nanoparticles.

A new generation of reconfigurable optical components is conceived by bridging the photothermal properties of gold nanoparticles and the thermosensitivity of liquid crystalline materials. As such, gold nanorods (GNRs) heated using light are used to activate efficient hidden diffraction gratings realized in a blend made of a room temperature polymerizable liquid crystal (PLC) and nematic liquid crystal (NLC).

Plasmonic photo-thermal therapy (PPTT) is a minimally invasive, drug-free, therapy based on the properties of noble metal nanoparticles, able to convert a bio-transparent electromagnetic radiation into heat. PPTT has been used against cancer and other diseases. Herein, we demonstrate an antimicrobial methodology based on the properties of gold nanorods (GNRs). Under a resonant laser irradiation GNRs become highly efficient light to heat nano-converters extremely useful for PPTT applications.

We investigate the discrete diffraction phenomenon in a Polymer-Liquid Crystal-Polymer Slices (POLICRYPS) overlaying a random distribution of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs, plasmonic elements). We study the propagation of a CW green laser beam through the waveguide structure as a function of beam polarization, laser intensity and sample temperature. It turns out that the plasmonic field created at the interface between AuNPs and POLICRYPS waveguides enables and stabilizes the optical field propagation within the responsive nematic liquid crystal channels.

The article provides a thorough review on advanced materials for architecture focusing on nanomaterials and on the new class of highly innovative materials, so called smart materials, illustrating their properties and their application in the building sector. The article illustrates how, thanks to the huge progress in the field of materials science, the advanced solutions available today can allow to reconcile the architectural features of the buildings with the new challenges of sustainability and energy efficiency.

Nutraceuticals represent complementary or alternative beneficial products to the expensive and high-tech therapeutic tools in modern medicine. Nowadays, their medical or health benefits in preventing or treating different types of diseases is widely accepted, due to fewer side effects than synthetic drugs, improved bioavailability and long half-life. Among herbal and natural compounds, curcumin is a very attractive herbal supplement considering its multipurpose properties.

Since around 50 years ago, the academic world is developing knowledge and technology to understand and to control matter at the nanoscale in order to exploit the peculiar mechanical, electrical, optical and magnetic properties emerging when a discrete number of atoms is assembled in structures which must be described according to the weird rules of quantum mechanics.

Although significant improvements in cancer treatment have led to a longer survival period, the death rate of patients with solid tumours has not changed during the last decades. Most researchers are currently concentrating on defining the mechanisms of the different resistance pathways activated by tumour cells; meanwhile, the role of limited drug distribution within tumours has been neglected.

Electrochemical biosensors provide an attractive means of analyzing the content of a biological sample due to the direct conversion of a biological event to an electronic signal. The signal transduction and the general performance of electrochemical biosensors are often determined by the surface architectures that connect the sensing element to the biological sample at the nanometer scale.