The Photochemistry Reactivity Group, led by Professor Julia Pérez Prieto at the Institute of Molecular Science (ICMol) of the University of Valencia, has organised this Thursday a scientific Workshop on the Prometeo Project "Emissive Materials for Multiple Applications", focused on research into organic, inorganic and hybrid nanomaterials with electronic and optical properties.
Prometeo is a programme through which the Department of Innovation, University, Science and Digital Society of the Valencian Regional Government government aims to support and promote R&D groups of excellence. In the case of the group led by researcher Julia Pérez, the aim is to obtain colloidal nanomaterials that benefit from the unique response to ultraviolet, visible and/or near-infrared light.
The interest of these studies lies in the demand for new smart nanomaterials for biological applications, sensing, imaging, therapeutics, photocatalysis or optoelectronics. The project encompasses a broad combination of simple, novel and versatile methodologies to fabricate nanomaterials. These consist of an inorganic photoactive core, with (or without) an inorganic coating of another material and protected by a layer of organic material with a certain functionality.
Depending on the nanomaterial, what is proposed is to carry out studies on the application of the colloidal nanomaterial and/or its (auto)assembly to constitute a new functional material. Some of these hybrid nanomaterials will be designed based on interactions between interconnectable blocks (which could be considered as LEGO or biomimetic systems); moreover, the blocks will not only play a "template" role but their intrinsic properties will be used to add functionality to the hybrid system.
The conference, conducted by Dra. Raquel Galián, was held in the Assembly Hall of the Parc Científic of the Universiy of Valencia and featured two international guest speakers. First, Dr. José Marqués Hueso, from the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Heriot-Watt University (UK), gave a talk entitled "Optical upconversion enabling new avenues for additive manufacturing".
Ángel Orte, from the Department of Physical Chemistry of the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Granada, also participated with the lecture “Microenvironment sensing by multiparametric microscopy". The programme also included talks by María González Béjar, professor at the UV Faculty of Chemistry and researcher at ICMol, who entitled her talk "Upconversion nanohybrids: an overview", and researcher Gowri Manohari.
Other members of the Photochemistry Reactivity Group who participated were researchers Ignacio Rosa Pardo, Alejandro Cortés Villena, Rita Cevallos Toledo, Miguel Justo Tirado and Alessandro Ciccone, who closed the day with his talk "Graphitic carbon nitride-based nanocomposites: a new insight".
