About Me

A short bio…

In 2008 I got my PhD degree in Computational Chemistry at the University of Mons (Belgium) in Prof. Roberto Lazzaroni's group. The main research topic of my PhD was the study and characterization of supramolecular self-assemblies, with particular interests to the transfer of chirality from the molecular level to the self-assembled monolayer (SAM). During my PhD I also spent one months in the group of Prof. David Amabilino at the University of Barcelona (Spain) and one year at the Max-Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz (Germany), in Dr. Denis Andrienko's group where I was introduced to coarse graining techniques.

Since the end of 2008, I am back in Mons, again with Prof. Lazzaroni, where I'm currently working on the study and characterization of polymers/carbon-nanoparticle (CNP) interfaces within the HARCANA European Project (High Aspect Ratio Carbon-based Nanocomposites).

My research interests include the study of supramolecular self-assemblies and polymer/carbon nanotubes interfaces with force field based techniques (molecular mechanics, molecular dynamics), coarse graining and Monte Carlo.

For my research I use Linux and Mac OS X operative systems and I usually develop codes in several languages (bash, perl, python, fortran) to support my research needs.

I’m also the author of Chembytes, a practical wiki for computational chemistry.

This is the page where to go to know more about my research.

… and a short CV

cv.pdf

Education

2008 PhD in Chemistry, orientation Material Science
Title: Modeling the structure and electronic properties of self-assemblies of functional conjugated molecules
Pr. R. Lazzaroni - UMONS, Mons Belgium

2004 Master in Materials Science (duration 5 years)
Title: Conformational analysis of oligothiophenes included in zeolite LTL
Pr. R. Tubino - UNIMIB - Faculty of Materials Science, Milano Italy

Experiences

2008– current Postdoc position at Materia Nova research center /UMONS, Mons (Belgium) within the EU HARCANA project.
Topic: Modeling of CNT-Polymer interactions with force field techniques: MM, MD, Coarse Graining.
Supervisor: Pr. R. Lazzaroni (UMONS)

2007– 2008 EST Researcher at Max Plank Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz (Germany).
Topic: Training on Coarse Grained methods and applications.
Supervisor: Dr. D. Andrienko. (MPIP, Mainz)

2004-2007 Young Researcher of the European Project Marie Curie Training Network CHEXTAN
Topic: Modeling chiral supramolecular self-assemblies: structural and electronic properties.
Supervisor: Pr. R. Lazzaroni (UMONS)

Selected publications

Minoia A. et al. "Assessing the role of chirality in the formation of rosette-like supramolecular assemblies on surfaces", Chem. Commun. 2011, 47, 10924.

Meyer F.; Minoia A.; Raquez J.M.; Spasova M., Lazzaroni R.; Dubois, P. “Poly(amino-methacrilate) as versatile agent for carbon nanotube dispersion: an experimental, theoretical and application study”, J. Mater. Chem. 2010, 20, 6873-6880.

Boon F.; Desbief S.; Cutaia L.; Douhéret O.; Minoia A.; Ruelle B.; Clèment S.; Coulembier O.; Cornil J.; Dubois P.; Lazzaroni R. “Synthesis and characterization of nanocomposies based on functional regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) and multiwall acrbon nanotubes”, Macromol. Rapid Comm. 2010, 31, 1427 - 1434.

Linares, M.; Minoia, A.; Brocorens, P.; Beljonne, D.; Lazzaroni, R. “Expression of chirality in molecular layers at surfaces: Insights from modeling”, Chem. Soc. Rev. 2009, 38, 806-816.

Puigmartì-Luis L.; Minoia A.; Uji-i H.; Rovira C.; Cornil J.; De Feyter S.; Lazzaroni R.; Amabilino D.B. “Noncovalent control for bottom-up assembly of funcional supramolecular wires”, JACS 2006, 128(39), 12602 - 12603.

The full list of publications is here.

Some Collaborations

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STM Characterization
Pr. S. De Feyter
University of Leuven, Leuven (Belgium)

Synthesis
Dr. D.B. Amabilino
Institut de Ciencia de Materials de Barcelona (CSIC), Barcelona (Spain)

Pr. P. Dubois
University of Mons, Mons (Belgium)

Theory
Pr. R. Lazzaroni, Dr. D. Beljonne, Dr. J. Cornil
University of Mons, Mons (Belgium)

Dr. D. Andrienko
Max-Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz (Germany)

Downloads

PhD thesis (pdf 4.3MB)
Short CV (pdf)

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