In our latest paper, we produced light processable hydrogels by utilizing maize starch as raw material. Congrats to all co-authors from Politecnico di Torino and  KTH Royal Institute of Technology! Light Processable Starch Hydrogels Camilla Noè,Chiara Tonda-Turo, Annalisa Chiappone, Marco Sangermano and Minna Hakkarainen Light processable hydrogels were successfully fabricated by utilizing maize starch as raw material. To render light processability, starch was gelatinized and methacrylated by simple reaction with methacrylic anhydride. The methacrylated starch was then evaluated for its photocuring reactivity and 3D printability by digital light processing (DLP). Hydrogels with good mechanical properties and biocompatibility were obtained by direct curing from aqueous solution containing lithium phenyl-2,4,6-trimethylbenzoylphosphinate (LAP) as photo-initiator. The properties of the hydrogels were tunable by simply changing the concentration of starch in water. Photo-rheology showed that the formulations with 10 or 15 wt% starch started curing immediately and reached G’ plateau after only 60 s, while…

In our latest paper we have reviewed our recent results in the design of ultrafiltration membranes by using photopolymerization and nature-inspired coatings. Congrats to all co-authors! UV-Cured ultrafiltration membranes Marco Sangermano, Luigi C. Capozzi, Farrukh M. Mehmood, Mattia Giagnorio, Alberto Tiraferri In this work, we present a review of recent results  in the design of ultrafiltration membranes by using photopolymerization. Non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) was coupled with photopolymerization and the starting polysulfone polymer (PSU) was either modified with methacrylated photocurable functionalities (PSU-DM) or the PSU was mixed with an acrylated resin. The resulting membranes showed an enhancement of solvent resistance, due to the crosslinking matrix. Finally, the solvent-resistant membranes were coated them with polydompamine in order to couple ultrafiltration and removal of contaminants by adsorption. Read our paper

Even if this difficult moment for Italy and the entire world, we are proud and happy to celebrate the graduation in Materials Science of our students at Politecnico di Torino.  It was an emotional moment for my students and me. Lorenzo Pezzana, Daniele Maugeri, Corrado Dall’Argine, and Valentina Cavallo showed their excellent works. Congrats also to my students Martina Cattaruzza for her graduation in Chemical Engineering. Students are the light of our future. Congratulation!  

Congratulation to my students Alessandro Albiani, Matteo Bergoglio, Matteo Bertola, Antonella Cattari and Livia Persico for bachelor graduation in Materials Science. Today, they have presented in telecon their thesis on polymers from renewable resources, polymeric blends, bio-epoxy resins, bio-packaging and fillers in polymeric matrixes. A special day for you in this strange period. I’m proud of you!

A new semester starts today despite coronavirus. In these tough days, Politecnico di Torino is demonstrating the highest level of technological innovation and organizational management providing the entire course catalog exclusively online. This is a new experience for everybody and I’m sure that this will be the occasion for personal and professional growth. The spreading of coronavirus is changing our routines, everything is more complicated, and we are facing new challenges. I’m preparing my lectures from home, avoiding contact with other people as much as possible, as suggested by the Italian government for containing the spreading of the virus. The university as a physical space is closed to the students, but the university community is working and living. Politecnico di Torino has put many efforts to connect us together and provide high-quality education online, and we are all proud of it. My dear students, this is the time for resistance…

I am leaving Australia with the strong feeling that I will come back to pursuing new scientific connections. Thanks to Politecnico di Torino for allowing me to participate in the Erasmus+ Program and the host universities, the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane and Monash University in Melbourn. Goodbye!

Polymer science celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. In 1920, an organic chemist 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 published an article titled “Über Polymerisationen”, “On Polymerizations”. The concept of macromolecules consisting of a large number of repeating units reached the scientific community. This ground-breaking 1920 publication of Hermann Staudinger (H. Staudinger, Chem. Ber., 1920, 53I(6), 1073–1085) has been translated for the first time into English by Holger Frey and Tobias Johanna in this occasion. Enjoy the first steps of our discipline.

My visit to Monash University was incredible, and I could meet many colleagues and having exciting discussions. New cooperations will soon start. A special thanks to Professor Neil Cameron, the Head of Department of Materials Science and Engineering, for hosting me and giving me such a friendly welcome.

Second meeting with the PhD students at QUT, enjoying the summer weather talking about UV-light. Thanks to prof. Christopher Barner-Kowollik for hosting me in his amazing group.