Abstract

Nanocrystals represent a new class of materials with highly designable and tunable properties. Their size/shape-dependent physico-chemical properties provide the opportunity to develop innovative functional materials for an extremely vast range of applications.

Fitting perfectly with the European agenda for smart, sustainable and responsible growth, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology have been designated as Key Enabling Technologies (KET) by the European Commission, within the H2020 framework. According to such a vision the potential impact of nanomaterials on the modern society is presently seen as a concrete opportunity, fostering new economical and technological development on a global scale.

In spite of this exciting scenario, an exhaustive characterization of nanocrystals is still a challenging task.

My presentation will cover the principles of the X-ray Total Scattering methods that I’m developing in collaboration with my former group at University of Insubria (Italy) and with prof. Jan Skov Pedersen at AU, particularly suitable for characterizing structure, microstructure and morphology of nanocrystals, together with an overview of the most recent results.    

Short bio

Federica Bertolotti is a chemist that since her bachelor degree develops her research interests within the fields of crystallography and solid-state chemistry. She started her career with a Ph.D., obtained at the University of Turin (Italy), mainly focus on conventional single crystal X-ray crystallographic techniques and topological analysis of electron density in crystals. During her post –doc at the University of Insubria (Como, Italy) she started focusing on the characterization of nanosized materials through the development of original Total Scattering techniques. In 2016 she spent several months working at the Columbia University (US) within a collaboration, before moving at the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies in the early 2017, working on the development of a unified SAXS/WAXS Total Scattering approach. She is co-author of the open source Debussy Suite of programs (debussy.sourceforge.net), now at its second release, performing the Debye Function Analysis (DFA) of nanomaterials.

Federico Bertolotti's project at AIAS

What is a Fellows' Seminar?

The AIAS Fellows' Seminar is a session of seminars held by the AIAS fellow or by other speakers proposed by the fellows. In each seminar, one fellow will present and discuss his/her current research and research project, closing off with a question and discussion session.

All seminars are held in English and open to the public. Registration to the seminar is not necessary.  Read more about the AIAS Fellows' Seminar here.