Controlling and understanding the mechanisms that govern crystallization processes is crucial in contemporary materials science, particularly in the field of reticular solids, where significant challenges remain. In this seminar, I will demonstrate how microfluidic synthetic conditions can control the size and shape of various functional porous crystals, such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)...
Photoactivated micro/nanomotors represent the next generation of self-propelled devices that can be easily actuated and controlled by using an external light source.1 Owing to their unique properties of photocatalytic-based systems —self-propelling as well as the generation of highly reactive radicals upon photoactivation— they have been widely explored for water cleaning and disinfection,...
Self-propelled micropumps are the immobilized version of nanomotors, sharing similar operational principles. Pumps offer valuable insights into the key parameters governing motion, with the added advantage of being easier to probe using various experimental techniques compared to their motile counterparts. In this talk, we will explore several examples demonstrating how micropumps can be used...
Controlling the transport of micro and nano particles in liquids is a fundamental problem with the potential to revolutionize different emerging technologies [1]. The use of self-generated thermal gradients has been theoretically proposed and demonstrated in experiment to be a promising strategy to induce transport of microparticles in liquids [2]. Here we show that the anisotropic dissipation...
Conformational pathologies, including neurodegenerative ones, are characterized by misfolded proteins called amyloids, which lose their physiological role and acquire toxicity. The accumulation and spread of amyloids is related to an impaired proteostasis network. Chaperones, as key actors of proteostasis, have thus become promising drug targets and models.
We are exploring how metal...
Hydrodynamic interactions (HIs), namely solvent-mediated long-range interactions between dispersed, microscopic particles, play a crucial role in the emergent dynamics of many active systems, from swimming bacteria to swarms of propelling microrobots. For example, HIs forces the bacteria E. Coli tend to swim close to a surface, where it performs a circular trajectory nearby. The attraction...
Morphological control of crystals is utterly important in reticular chemistry, especially as a fundamental strategy toward preparing functional materials of superior properties. Despite the notable advancements in the realm of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), where endeavors primarily focus on shape manipulation at the nano- and microscale during bulk synthesis and subsequent processing at the...
Emerging Contaminants (ECs) are considered anthropogenic impact indicators, whose detection and quantification contribute to understanding their occurrence, distribution, and potential toxicity, allowing for effective mitigation strategies and environmental management. Electrochemical sensors based on screen-printed electrodes (SPE) have gained significant attention due to their advantages...
Chemophoresis describes the displacement of a particle in an ambient fluid due to a gradient in chemical composition. Classic phoresis can be understood through linear-response theory: in the presence of a sufficiently small, externally imposed gradient $(\nabla n)_\mathrm{ext}$ in concentration, the phoretic velocity of the particle is $\mathbf{V} =
\mathcal{L}_\mathrm{lin}(\nabla...
During the last decade, many attempts have been made to develop new technologies capable of interacting with systems at very low dimensional scales, from nano to micrometers, and perform very specific tasks. Interest in this type of research arises from the possibility of conducting operations in a localized and controlled manner. One of the most promising among these technologies turns out to...
Morphological control of crystals is utterly important in reticular chemistry, especially as a fundamental strategy toward preparing functional materials of superior properties. Despite the notable advancements in the realm of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), where endeavors primarily focus on shape manipulation at the nano- and microscale during bulk synthesis and subsequent processing at the...
Lanthanide polyoxometalates (Ln-POMs) have garnered interest due to their diverse structural motifs and potential applications in various fields. In this work, we report the synthesis and characterization of Anderson-type Ln-POMs, with the general formula [Ln(H₂O)x]₂[TeMo₆O₂₄]·yH₂O, where Ln represents lanthanide cations (Tb³⁺, La³⁺, Dy³⁺, Ce³⁺, Sm³⁺, Er³⁺, and Gd³⁺), x corresponds to the...
Emerging Contaminants (ECs) are considered anthropogenic impact indicators, whose detection and quantification contribute to understanding their occurrence, distribution, and potential toxicity, allowing for effective mitigation strategies and environmental management. Electrochemical sensors based on screen-printed electrodes (SPE) have gained significant attention due to their advantages...
Conformational pathologies, including neurodegenerative ones, are characterized by misfolded proteins called amyloids, which lose their physiological role and acquire toxicity. The accumulation and spread of amyloids is related to an impaired proteostasis network. Chaperones, as key actors of proteostasis, have thus become promising drug targets and models.
We are exploring how metal...
Chemophoresis describes the displacement of a particle in an ambient fluid due to a gradient in chemical composition. Classic phoresis can be understood through linear-response theory: in the presence of a sufficiently small, externally imposed gradient $(\nabla n)_\mathrm{ext}$ in concentration, the phoretic velocity of the particle is $\mathbf{V} =
\mathcal{L}_\mathrm{lin}(\nabla...
Over the past two decades, there has been a notable increase in research focused on nanomaterials, particularly ferrite nanoparticles. Research interest in spinel ferrite magnetic nanoparticles has surged in recent years, driven by their potential applications in antennas, transformer, spintronics, biomedical fields, and catalysis. In our study, bare cobalt ferrite and Li+-Zn2+ co-doped cobalt...
Engineering medical nanomotors/nanobots will imply the use of biocompatible materials and bio-friendly propulsion mechanisms. Our strategy comprises the use of biocatalysts such enzymes for converting biologically available fuels, such as the urea contained in the urine, into a propulsive force. Moreover, nanoparticles’ chassis are generally recognized as safe (GRAS) material, FDA or EMA...
Several concepts have been pursued by different research groups worldwide to realize untethered propulsion on a small size scale. Potential geometries for such untethered devices range from tubular microjets, Janus particles, or rods, over bio-inspired artificial flagella, to helical micromotors. Physical micromotors and microrobots for example are based on external physical fields such as...
The development of engineered active colloids that harness the chemical energy of the environment to move has enabled one to mimic and dissect mechanisms in biological systems while opening doors to multiple applications: bioremediation, micromixing, micromachinery, drug delivery, and more. However, the application of active colloids for biomedical applications must consider the complex nature...
Systems containing active components are intrinsically out of equilibrium, while binary mixtures reach their equilibrium configuration when complete phase separation is achieved. Active particles are found to stabilise non-equilibrium morphologies in phase separating binary mixtures by arresting coarsening, exerting active pressure that competes with surface tension driving forces. For...
In the last years, the use of nanomaterials in different fields has been continuously expanding due to their unique properties. Particularly, they play a crucial role as controlled drug delivery systems in medical applications. Among them, mesoporous silica nanoparticles are widely utilized due to their high loading capacity and ease of functionalization, enabling the incorporation of...
Being groups of animals or populations of cells, active agents exhibit a fantastic richness of collective, or cooperative behaviour, responsible in many cases of providing function to biological or ecological systems. Can we develop predictive tools for these systems? Can we learn from them ways of fuctionalizing artificial materials? I'll address theses questions taking synthetic...
In next-generation therapeutics and synthetic biology, nanoreservoirs with enzyme-like activity are gaining attention for their potential to replace biological functions, introduce new cellular capabilities, or control therapeutic effects. These artificial cell nano-structures hold promise for enhancing targeted therapies, biosensor platforms, and modulating immune responses. For instance,...
Micromotors (MMs) are micro and nanoscale devices capable of converting energy into autonomous motion. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are crystalline materials that display exceptional properties such as high porosity and biocompatibility. The combination of MOFs with MMs can result in a synergetic technology benefiting both from the enhanced fluid mixing of MMs and the exceptional properties...
Chemical reactions in living systems are regulated by metabolic processes like the anabolic formation of bio-macromolecules and catabolic degradation of food into energy. These reactions often consume chemical energy and result in active self-assembled structures that exist under out-of-equilibrium (OOE) conditions, which facilitate unique functions of life. In specific, phospholipid molecules...
The non-axisymmetric chiral squirmer [1], implemented within a Lattice Boltzmann code tailored for complex fluid dynamics [2], serves as a versatile tool to study the emergent behavior of microswimmer suspensions. Utilizing this model, we delve into the characterization of interactions between pairs of squirmers and explore their behavior in proximity to solid walls, as well as within the...
Cholesteric phases are liquid crystals in which a helical twist can be induced by the presence of a chiral agent. This twist, with a periodicity or pitch (p), can be frustrated under geometrical confinement comparable to p. Under those conditions, skyrmions can be formed if the material undergoes an instability. Skyrmions are topologically protected solitonic-like structures [1-3], formed by...
The atomic force microscope (AFM) is gaining progressive attention for its capability to provide maps of biophysical properties of adhered micro- and nanostructures at high spatial resolution (in the nanometre range), and in live conditions (buffers, cell media). In the biomedical community, these properties are much less explored than other type of characterization based on genetics and...
Metabolic processes are crucial for sustaining life, involving the cyclic synthesis (anabolism) and degradation (catabolism) of chemical and supramolecular structures through the expense of chemical energy [1]. These highly dynamic structures which form under out-of-equilibrium (OOE) conditions define the hallmark features of life such as adaptivity and spatiotemporal control [2]. At the...
The non-axisymmetric chiral squirmer [1], implemented within a Lattice Boltzmann code tailored for complex fluid dynamics [2], serves as a versatile tool to study the emergent behavior of microswimmer suspensions. Utilizing this model, we delve into the characterization of interactions between pairs of squirmers and explore their behavior in proximity to solid walls, as well as within the...
COMET-NANO leverages advances in nanotechnology to enhance catalysts at the nanoscale, essential in the chemical and environmental industries. The group develops hybrid nanosystems based on silica, titania, carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide, magnetite, metallic nanoparticles, and bismuth-based materials, with improved catalytic and photocatalytic properties through green chemistry.
Success has...
Ultrasound-guided drug and gene delivery offers a non-invasive, high-precision, low-toxicity method for the controlled and spatially precise delivery of drugs and macromolecules, encapsulated in microbubbles and submicron gas vesicles, to targeted areas such as cancer tumors. This technique significantly reduces the drug dose while improving therapeutic efficacy. In this study, we present a...
Metabolic processes are crucial for sustaining life, involving the cyclic synthesis (anabolism) and degradation (catabolism) of chemical and supramolecular structures through the expense of chemical energy [1]. These highly dynamic structures which form under out-of-equilibrium (OOE) conditions define the hallmark features of life such as adaptivity and spatiotemporal control [2]. At the...
The atomic force microscope (AFM) is gaining progressive attention for its capability to provide maps of biophysical properties of adhered micro- and nanostructures at high spatial resolution (in the nanometre range), and in live conditions (buffers, cell media). In the biomedical community, these properties are much less explored than other type of characterization based on genetics and...
Cholesteric phases are liquid crystals in which a helical twist can be induced by the presence of a chiral agent. This twist, with a periodicity or pitch (p), can be frustrated under geometrical confinement comparable to p. Under those conditions, skyrmions can be formed if the material undergoes an instability. Skyrmions are topologically protected solitonic-like structures [1-3], formed by...
**Metal phosphates, a fascinating category of inorganic ring structures, have garnered considerable attention for their unique structural, physical, and chemical characteristics, including optical, electronic, and magnetic properties [1]. Cyclohexaphosphates, in particular, have attracted interest due to their high hydrolytic and thermal stabilities, as well as their strong complexation...
Within a living cell, motor proteins like kinesin are responsible of the transport of intracellular components. The functioning of this active transport is well known, and it has been employed to build synthetic assemblies of microtubules, which are stirred at the level of the single components and evolve out of thermal equilibrium. Such system is a paradigmatic example of an active material,...
This talk will discuss recent results pertaining to 2D active nematics in flat space. We will focus on defect number fluctuations and how they relate to the system structure and overall correlations. Contrary to what is often found in active matter, we do not observe giant number fluctuations. Instead, we find that the system of defects exhibits hyperuniformity.
The controlled transport and assembly of colloidal cargo within confined micro-environments is a challenging endeavor with significant implications for both technological applications and fundamental science. To achieve directed motion, both self-propelled and externally driven colloidal particles and droplets must be guided by breaking fore-aft symmetry in a controlled manner. Liquid crystals...
Synthetic nano/microrobots have rapidly advanced, offering transformative capabilities in diverse fields through their autonomous movement, responsiveness to stimuli, and precise task execution at micro and nanoscale. This talk provides a brief introduction to the evolution of nano/microrobots, focusing on their breakthrough roles in environmental applications, such as pollutant detection,...
Chiral enantiomers have identical chemical formula, molecular weight and physicochemical properties except for optical rotation, whereas they exhibit different biological and pharmacological properties. Many biologically active substances, such as amino acids, proteins, enzymes, DNA, etc., are chiral. While only one enantiomer of a chiral drug, usually the L–form, exhibits useful therapeutic...
We assemble a biomimetic active material from microscopic components like cells' filaments and protein motors that consume energy and generate continuous motion. Such active systems are capable of self-organization at different length and time scales, often exhibiting turbulent flows and the emergence of long-range orientational order, which is a characteristic of active nematics (AN)....
Since the development of the first generation of self-propelled nanomotors, the field has undergone extensive exploration. A wide range of nanomotors has been synthesized, varying in materials, shapes, sizes, and propulsion mechanisms [1]. However, this diversity also introduces new challenges and raises fundamental questions, particularly regarding practical applications. Current research is...
We investigate the low energy state of an artificial colloidal ice, namely a collection of interacting paramagnetic colloids confined into a lattice of potential wells such that its geometry induces frustration via competing interactions at each vertex. In contrast to previous work with isotropic repulsions, we consider the case of time-average attractive interactions between the particles...
Clustering is one of the mayor collective phenomena observed in active matter. We study the overdamped motion of interacting active Brownian particles in two dimensions. An instability in the pair correlation function causes the onset of clustering. This clustering mechanism depends mainly on the self-propulsion properties of the active particles and details of the interactions do not effect...
The pursuit of enhanced drug testing for the treatment of diseases has led scientists to develop methodologies for delivering drugs into controlled and localized spaces. Blood-like substances have shown promise as noninvasive solutions [1]. Although individual blood cells have been investigated as drug carriers for various treatments, they face challenges in terms of drug release, targeting,...
Janus particles can be externally controlled in many different ways. The swim velocity of an active particle can be increased or decreased by tuning the light’s power illumination, resulting in different self-assembly paths. This provides interesting applications, such as micro-motors where light–induced asymmetric velocity profiles give rise to directed motion.
While much is known about...
FtsZ is a protein involved in bacterial cell division. This study examines the behavior of FtsZ under two-dimensional confinement and lateral spatial restrictions as an alternative to its three-dimensional confinement within a bacterium. Two protocols were developed to restrict the lateral movement of the protein in bilayers containing a lipid mixture of...
Since the development of the first generation of self-propelled nanomotors, the field has undergone extensive exploration. A wide range of nanomotors has been synthesized, varying in materials, shapes, sizes, and propulsion mechanisms [1]. However, this diversity also introduces new challenges and raises fundamental questions, particularly regarding practical applications. Current research is...
We assemble a biomimetic active material from microscopic components like cells' filaments and protein motors that consume energy and generate continuous motion. Such active systems are capable of self-organization at different length and time scales, often exhibiting turbulent flows and the emergence of long-range orientational order, which is a characteristic of active nematics (AN)....
The pursuit of enhanced drug testing for the treatment of diseases has led scientists to develop methodologies for delivering drugs into controlled and localized spaces. Blood-like substances have shown promise as noninvasive solutions [1]. Although individual blood cells have been investigated as drug carriers for various treatments, they face challenges in terms of drug release, targeting,...
La red temática MetalBio, centrada en los metales e iones metálicos en sistemas biológicos, surge como evolución de la red creada en 2015, ampliando su alcance con la inclusión de nuevos grupos de investigación. Está compuesta por 13 grupos nacionales especializados en diversas áreas como la Química Bioinorgánica, los nanomateriales y los sistemas biológicos de interés terapéutico y...
Squirmers provide a simple and effective model for active particles. We consider the particular case of shakers (non-self-propelling squirmers) confined to a fluid-fluid interface, so that an ultraconfined 2D colloid immersed in a 3D fluid is obtained. This dimensionally hybrid (2D/3D) configuration alters the hydrodynamic interactions significantly due to the symmetry breaking of the...
Clustering is one of the mayor collective phenomena observed in active matter. We study the overdamped motion of interacting active Brownian particles in two dimensions. An instability in the pair correlation function causes the onset of clustering. This clustering mechanism depends mainly on the self-propulsion properties of the active particles and details of the interactions do not effect...
