Exploring the flatland of 2D materials via chemical modification for energy and (opto)electronics

The seminar titled "Exploring the flatland of 2D materials via chemical modification for energy and (opto)electronics" will provide an opportunity to explore, alongside professor Teresa Gatti, the diverse applications of layered materials. This ranges from lead-free 2D perovskites in solar cells to 2D transition metal dichalcogenides in electrochemical capacitors, highlighting scalable production methods and recent advancements in photoelectrochemical hydrogen evolution and bio-compatible piezo-resistive pressure sensors.

Abstract

Layered materials have many potentials for use in applications requiring (semi)conducting behavior, coupled to anisotropy or preferential orientations. In our group, we try to incorporate them into systems and devices of different types, ranging from solar and photoelectrochemical cells up to energy-storage and piezo-resistive systems. In general, we choose to resort to highly scalable methods for their production and their processing, mostly solution-based, through the preparation of inks that can undergo further chemical processes or be deposited via spin/spray/dip-coating.

In this talk, we will give a collective view of some of the recent projects we are carrying on: we will talk about lead-free 2D perovskites, their optical properties and their application in solar cells and will discuss some uses of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides in electrochemical capacitors. We will show some recent results in the production and testing of layered heterojunctions based on two different semiconductors for use in photoelectrochemical hydrogen evolution. Finally, we will shift the focus on describing the potential of hydrogels containing 2D MoS2 for use in bio-compatible piezo-resistive pressure sensors.

Speaker: professor Teresa Gatti (Politecnico di Torino)

Biography

Teresa Gatti is Full Professor of Principles of Chemistry for Applied Technologies at the Department of Applied Science and Technology-DISAT of Politecnico di Torino, which she joined in September 2022. Previously, she was a Research Group Leader at the Center for Materials Research of the Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany (2019-2022). She holds a PhD in Materials Engineering from Politecnico di Milano (2014) and spent four years at the Department of Chemical Sciences of the University of Padova as a postdoctoral fellow in the group of Prof. M. Maggini. Her interests cover the design, synthesis, and characterization of functional nanomaterials for energy and (opto)electronic applications. Since 2021, she is the recipient of the ERC Starting Grant project JANUS BI.

Event organised by the Department of Applied Science and Technology-DISAT of the Politecnico.