CNR Nanotec

The National Research Council Institute CNR-NANOTEC operates through its four research divisions located in Lecce, Bari, Roma and Rende (CS).

CNR-NANOTEC mission is the development and prototyping of innovative materials and devices obtained using bottom-up approaches (self-assembling, molecular engineering of polymers, biological and organic molecules) as well as top-down approaches (nanotechnology/last generation litographic techniques applied to semiconductor materials).

In particular, CNR-NANOTEC researchers design and synthesize new nanomaterials and prototype devices with performances at the state of the art or above it. Other core activities are the study and the manipulation of soft matter and biomaterials and the study of  the basics of plasma chemistry and physics and the development of new plasma methodologies for application in many fields such as environment, energy and life sciences, aerospace and cultural heritage.

Amongst the many research activities we here cite:

1) design and synthesis of colloidal nanoparticles for many applications such as catalysis, drug-delivery, third generation photovoltaics, next generation OLED lighting;

2) design and synthesis of 2D materials such as graphene and MoS for applications in electronics as well as optoelectronics;

3) development of new generation ultrafast quantum computers and data transmission systems through spintronics and polaritonics;

4) fabrication of lab-on-a-chip systems (LOCs) for diagnostics and point-of-care therapies;

5) synthetic biology and bioreactors for the development of new biocompatible materials and systems with predetermined functions;

6) plasmas for energy and space applications (electric propulsion for microsatellites and plasma assisted combustion).

CNR-NANOTEC is a multidisciplinary research centre with labs and facilities located in the four divisions and a main research infrastructure in Lecce featuring more than 12000 sqm of labs and clean rooms and more than 200 researchers coming from physics, chemistry, biology, medicine and engineering.

CNR-NANOTEC mission is to attract and involve the best italian and foreign researchers working abroad through an open-access management of the facilities in order to promote the development of external projects as well as partnerships with the best international research centres.

Particular attention is devoted to innovation through technology-transfer processes, creation of joint-labs with international companies, collaborations with venture capital funds and also by promoting the creation of start-ups and spin-offs. It must be highlighted that CNR-NANOTEC already collaborate, also through students and researchers mobility programs, with many worldwide high-value Public Research Centres in the Nanotechnology field such as the Molecular Foundry Lab of the Berkeley University, London Imperial College, Cambridge University, Oxford University,  the Institute for Problems in Mechanics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Wright Patterson U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, the Laboratoire des Sciences des Procédés et des Matériaux (LSPM) of CNRS, the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald, the Technical Chemistry Group of the University of Duisburg-ESSEN, the Department of Mathematics and Mechanics of Saint Petersburg State University as well as with many multinational companies such as STMicroelectronics, Bosch ed Engineering Ingegneria Informatica, SITAEL spa. Last but not the least, Nanotec has strong collaborations with DHITECH and DTA Apulian districts.

Besides the research and technology transfer activities, CNR-NANOTEC is devoted to the communication, dissemination and know-how transfer activities aiming at creating an Innovation Ecosystem to foster the knowledge-based economy growth and to exploit the research results.

We like to underline that the quality of the research performed in CNR-NANOTEC has already been recognized by the European Research Council (ERC) that awarded its prestigious grant to one of its talented young research team.