Invited talk with Magalí Lingenfelder

Next Friday, 14th October, we will have a invited talk with Magalí Lingenfelder, leader of the Max Planck-EPFL Laboratory for Molecular Nanoscience in Lausanne, Switzerland

The talk will start at 11 AM at Martina Casiano Auditorium (Leioa)

Making Bioinspired Materials Atom by Atom

Two pressing challenges of modern Europe are the supply of clean energy and the fight against infectious diseases. In my group, we are addressing these challenges creating novel materials that incorporate principles of biomimicry, interfacial chemistry and surface physics.

Biological systems are an inspiration for the design of functional materials, both in terms of reactivity and circularity, but they are structurally complex. Nanoscience allows us to simplify the architecture of materials, using less atoms to optimize functionality and reducing the structural complexity. Moreover, incorporating the time scale is key to control functionality of bioinspired systems, as designed surfaces change in response to the environment both under reaction and/or flow conditions.

In this seminar, I will focus on the design, characterization and dynamic nature of functional interfaces for both artificial photosynthesis and antimicrobial surfaces. I will discuss the use of cutting-edge scanning probe microscopy and solid-state spectroscopies to track the surface dynamics of electrocatalysts in-situ, and present a few unconventional strategies to reach significant boosts in the catalytic activity of Earth-abundant 2D materials using magnetic effects. In the field of antimicrobial interfaces, I will discuss the control of protein-plastic interactions and nanoscale confinement, allowing record antibacterial activity against multi-resistant bacteria isolated from hospitalized patients. Finally, I will discuss future perspectives of atomically tailored interfaces in Energy and Health.