Visão Geral

- To design, prepare, process and characterize: Inorganic and organic-inorganic multifunctional materials and nanostructures of different (0-3D) dimensionality, for the information and communications technologies (optical, magnetic properties), photovoltaics, catalysis, biological and environmental applications; ferroics and nanostructures for integration in electronic, magnetic, electromechanic, thermal or biomedical devices and energy saving applications;
- To increase the performance and added value of materials via surface functionalisation for corrosion protection, wear resistance, various sensors, and innovative multifunctional configurations;
- To study molecular systems structure, from atoms to devices, calculate their physicochemical and electronic properties, predict their behaviour, viz., under pressure and temperature.

- To develop new products based on renewable resources to replace fossil raw materials as sources of commodities and specialty chemicals, materials and fuels, based on sustainable processes;
- To address in particular the “plastic problem” by developing biobased and biodegradable functional polymers, and processes that enhance the circularity of conventional plastics;
- To develop new processes to add value to waste streams, by recovering, or converting them, into a secondary source of raw materials;
- To design, prepare, process and characterize new materials for pollution control, in particular materials to assist the decarbonisation of industrial processes by CO2 separation, capture and conversion; (ad/ab)sorbents or new catalysts to remove contaminants from air (e.g., NOx, CO, VOCs) or water (e.g., heavy metals, drugs, pesticides and persistent pollutants);
- To develop and design materials and devices for sustainable energy production, namely energy harvesting, energy storage, thermoelectric energy conversion, and more efficient thermal processes without greenhouse gases;
- To assess the environmental impact of the novel solvents, materials, products and processes being studied.

- Biomaterials for regenerative medicine and disease modelling: development of inorganic, macromolecular, composite or self-assembled molecules, processed by advanced methodologies to develop biomedical and cells-combined constructs that may be used in tissue engineering and personalised medicine, both for therapies to regenerate damaged tissues, and as platforms for in vitro drugs screen;
- Cell-based therapies for prevailing relevant health problems, exploring scaffold-free, nanobiomaterials and surface cell engineering approaches;
- In silico methodologies: use of quantum calculations and molecular dynamics simulations for the modelling the interaction of drugs with biological targets;
- Analytical tools: metabolomics to assess material-organism interactions and improve disease management, monitoring of complex cellular processes and biomaterials development;
- Sustainable strategies in biomedicine: valorisation of natural products for the development of advanced and multifunctional biomaterials; use of mild and green processes for the development of cost-effective purification processes for biopharmaceuticals.