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INL research on quantum materials in the cover of top Physics journal

INL researchers from the group of Theory of Quantum Nanostructures have proposed a new type of spintronic device concept, based on ferromagnetic proximity effect in two-dimensional crystals. The INL researchers have modelled how the electronic properties of graphene bilayer change from conducting to insulating depending on the relative orientation of the magnetisation of two adjacent magnetic layers. The results have been published in Physical Review Letters (PRL) and have been selected as Editors’ suggestion, making the cover for August 2018 edition. PRL is one of the worldwide most regarded journals on Physics by the scientific community, where only a minor fraction of the suggested papers are selected for publication by the Editors.

Join INL as MSCA Fellow!

INL is looking for talented researchers eager to work in our cutting-edge, multicultural organisation. Individual Fellowships (IF) provide funding to researchers of any nationality to acquire and transfer new knowledge and to work on research and innovation in Europe. Applicable MSCA IF types: Standard European Fellowships, Career Restart Panel, Reintegration Panel and Widening Fellowships. For further information please click here.

INL showcases nanotechnology developments in Chile

INL presented the latest trends on nanotechnology applied to the food sector in a seminar promoted by Chilean organisation CREAS (Regional Center for Studies on Healthy Food) on how science and technology can help the productive sector to have a better performance. Also, the INL Head of Life Sciences, Lorenzo Pastrana, participated in a meeting with representatives of the Regional Government of Valparaiso to show the collaboration INL-CREAS as a success case, underlining the importance of the public body funding agencies to support the connexion between academy and industry. The initiative, that took place last June 28th and 29th at Valparaiso and Viña del Mar, Valparaíso Region, Chile, also gathered other specialists from Chile and Portugal to discuss how science will play a key role to take innovation to the market.

INL research gets Best Poster Award in USA

At the World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC-7) held last month from June 10-15 in Waikoloa, Hawaii, USA, Sascha Sadewasser, INL Principal Investigator of the Laboratory for Nanostructured Solar Cells, presented the most recent results of a collaborative work between his group and the group of Prof. Philip Dale from the University of Luxembourg. The poster presentation with the title “Area-selective electrodeposition of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 micro-islands for micro-concentrator solar cells” was awarded a Best Poster Award by the organizers. The work shows a proof-of-concept demonstration of a photovoltaic technology which is capable of reaching higher power conversion efficiencies with lower materials consumption of the Cu(In,Ga)Se2 absorber layer.

In Situ Atomic-Scale Study provides new insights into crystal nucleation and growth mechanisms

Junjie Li and Francis Leonard Deepak from the AEMIS Department along with Zhongchang Wang – QMST Department in collaboration with international researchers have carried out In situ atomic-scale studies to clarify nucleation and growth mechanisms of nanocrystals. Understanding nucleation and growth at the atomic scale is of great interest to scientists in many disciplines. However, fulfilling direct atomic-scale observation is still a significant challenge. In their recently reported study in the leading international journal Advanced Science using Bi as a model system, they employed electron beam irradiation within an aberration-corrected TEM to unveil the non-classical mechanism of crystal nucleation and growth. These findings are expected to help advance the general understanding of the dynamic process of nucleation of materials and phase transformations at the atomic scale.

PhD’s students from INL awarded at the 40th International Conference on Environmental & Food Monitoring

INLers Soraia Fernandes and Monisha Elumalai were awarded at the 40th International Conferences on Environmental & Food Monitoring, held this month in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Soraia Fernandes, a PhD student, working with our Nanochemistry and Water Quality Research Groups, won the “Roland W. Frei” Poster Award for “Novel magnetic covalent organic framework composites for the absorption of diarrheic shellfish poisoning toxins.” Monisha Elumalai, a PhD students, working with INL’s Food Quality and Safety Research Group, won the best young researcher oral presentation by the ISEAC-40 organisation for “Early detection of zebra mussel assisted by modified gold nanoparticle amplification”. Congratulations to both, it is with great pride that we testimony INLers achievements!

EuroNanoLab scales up nanostructuration in Europe

EuroNanoLab is an initiative to establish a large-scale distributed nanofabrication research infrastructure, and INL’s Cleanroom is one of the facilities available. This initiative brings together most of the European academic clean rooms, the place where future technology is already happening. Gabriel Chardin, from CNRS, the consortium coordinating organisation, explains why this is a major step towards a new era, in an opinion article you may read here.

Plug and play anisotropy-based nanothermometers

The Ultrafast Bio and Nanophotonics group have developed a novel Plug and Play Nanothermosensor technology with relevance for molecular biochemistry at INL, led by J. Nieder and international collaborators. The novel technique allows a new level of access to measure temperate at the molecular scale. Read the full article in ACS Photonics.

Covalent organic frameworks capture pharmaceutical pollutants from water

A team of scientists from the Nanochemistry and Water Quality groups at INL, CRSTRA in Algeria, LMU in Germany, and GalChimia in Spain have developed a fluorine-bearing covalent organic framework (COF), and showed, for the first time, that this class of materials can be used to capture pharmaceutical pollutants from water. Lipophilic pharmaceuticals, such as ibuprofen, were adsorbed from the water with high efficiency and completely recovered by simple solvent exchange. As opposed to many other adsorbents such as activated carbon, the developed COF can be efficiently recycled for reuse. Read the full article in Chemistry-A European Journal.