NANOSYSTEMS FOR ANALYTICAL APPLICATIONS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND INDUSTRY

-Knowledge and understanding:
I) Demonstrate adequate knowledge and understanding of the current state of the art of nanomaterial chemistry.
II) Know the difference between massive (bulk) materials and nanomaterials and the instrumental methods suitable for recognizing them.
III) Demonstrate appropriate knowledge and adequate understanding of the chemical (bottom-up) and physical (top-down) synthetic approaches for the preparation of nanomaterials, with particular reference to the knowledge of the control and modulation of the various parameters during the synthesis process to obtain nanostructures with specific dimensions and morphologies and therefore controlled structural, optical and functional properties.

-Ability to apply knowledge and understanding:
I) Be able to use the concepts learned to predict and interpret the chemical-physical and optical properties of an inorganic nanomaterial.
II) Be able to recognize coherent and feasible technological applications of inorganic nanomaterials in the biomedical, pharmaceutical and industrial fields.

- Making judgments:
I) Use the knowledge acquired to evaluate which synthesis methods may be most suitable for making nanostructured materials of various inorganic compounds (metals, semiconductors, oxides).
II) Know how to evaluate the fields of application of inorganic nanomaterials.

-Communication skills:
I) Know how to use appropriate scientific-technical terminology and symbols for discussing the course contents.
II) Be able to develop an autonomous and partly original discussion on such contents.

-Learning skills:
I) Know how to autonomously elaborate the fundamental concepts (techniques and theoretical models) developed during the course for the identification of problems in the chemistry of nanomaterials.
II) Know how to make logical connections between the course topics.

Lessons.

If the course would be at distance, or in presence and at distance at the same time, the necessary and appropriate changes to the statement originally declared will be introduced to comply to the program reported in the syllabus.

Colloidal systems. Inorganic Colloids. Historical background. Synthetic procedures: top down and bottom up methods. Synthesis of Nanoparticles with different shapes: isotropic and anisotropic structures. Stabilization of colloids: role of capping agents and of attractive and repulsive forces in the aggregation processes. Electrical properties of colloids. Role of pH and ionic strength. Nanoparticles functionalization: physical absorption, chemisorption and covalent functionalization. Critical evaluation and optimization of the strategies of wet synthesis for the obtainment of gold and silver stable colloids. Most relevant methods of colloids characterization: TEM, DLS, AT-FTIR, PL spectroscopy.

Analytical applications: Nanostructured materials as objects (analytes) or tools involved in the analytical process. Analytical Nanosystems. Use of Nanoparticles as Tools in Analytical Processes.

Nanomaterials for the optimization of analytical procedures:

1) Purification and Preconcentration of Analytes.

2) Improvement of Chromatographic and Electrophoretic Separations.

3) Aggregation and fluorescence methods. Increasing the sensitivity in the Detection Processes: chiral discrimination of amino acids, quantitative determination of metal ions, of halide and sulfide ions and of biological analytes.

Catalytic applications: nanoparticles in photocatalysis. Catalysis in Oxidative Processes. Catalysis by Unsupported Nanoparticles. Evaluation of the catalytic performances of nanosystems by using model compounds.

Determination of nanoparticles in biological and environmental samples.

Series: Comprehensive Analytical Chemistry 66, Gold Nanoparticles in Analytical Chemistry, Miguel Valcárcel and Ángela I. López-Lorente (Eds.), Publisher: Elsevier, (2014) ISBN: 0444632859,978-0-444-63285-2

Letteratura scientifica.

 Krajczewski, K. Kołątaj, A. Kudelski, Plasmonic nanoparticles in chemical analysis, RSC Adv., 7 (2017) 17559- 17576.

H I Badi’ah et al IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 217 (2019) 012005