UCL CENTRE FOR MATERIALS RESEARCH

Research Summary

The research activity focuses on structural, dynamical and electronic properties of oxide materials and of their interfaces, relevant to their application in areas of technological interest, such as biomedicine and photocatalysis.

Bioactive glasses, water on TiO₂ surfaces and "Maya Blue" hybrid materials are the targets of current investigations. These systems are investigated through classical and ab-initio Molecular Dynamics, as well as total energy DFT calculations. 

In my recent work on bioactive glasses (reviewed here) I have devised and developed new methods and computational/statistical approaches to model structural and dynamical properties of these complex materials, and used these approaches to expose hidden features which contribute to explain the biological behaviour of bioglasses. It is certainly rewarding (well, it certainly is for me...) that the very same ideas and approaches that I have pioneered and explored, such as the first ab-initio models of bioglasses from Car-Parrinello MD (e.g., here) or the introduction of new structural markers of bioactivity (e.g., here) are now inspiring very similar computational studies for very similar amorphous biomaterials.     

I have authored > 50 research papers on peer-reviewed journals, which have received ~1400 citations to date (ISI h-index: 25). 

For additional information please visit my UCL webpage