Publications

In this paper, we study the drying of water-saturated porous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomers with closed porosity in which the evaporation of water is possible only via the diffusion across PDMS. Starting from water/PDMS emulsions, we fabricate soft macroporous samples with different pore diameter distributions and average diameters ranging from 10 to 300 mm. In these materials, the drying may lead to either a collapsed state with low porosity or the cavitation and reopening of a fraction of the pores. Using optical microscopy and porosity measurements, we showed the influence of the pore diameters and interactions on the result of drying.

Collapse and cavitation during the drying of water-saturated PDMS sponges with closed porosity, Royal Society of Chemistry, 2020.

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have seen a fast development as drug delivery carriers thanks to their tunable porosity and high loading capacity. The employ of MSNs in biomedical applications requires a good understanding of their degradation behavior both to control drug release and to assess possible toxicity issues on human health. In this work, we study mesoporous silica degradation in biologically relevant conditions through in situ ellipsometry on model mesoporous nanoparticle or continuous thin films, in buffer solution and in media containing proteins.

Following in Situ the Degradation of Mesoporous Silica in Biorelevant Conditions: At Last, a Good Comprehension of the Structure Influence, Journal of the American Chemical Society 2020

As the world recovers from the lockdown imposed by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, returning to shared indoor spaces is considered a formidable risk. It is now clear that transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is driven by respiratory microdroplets expelled by infected persons, which can become suspended in the air. Several layering technologies are being explored to mitigate indoor transmission in the hopes of re-opening business, schools and transportation systems. Here we coupled the water adsorptive and photocatalytic capacity of novel Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) to demonstrate the capture and inactivation of SARS-CoV-2. Discussion is given on the methods of analysis and the differences between the photocatalytic activity of several MOFs, and the difference between MOF induced photocatalysis and ultra violet photolysis of SARS-CoV-2. Our results are intended to provide support to industry looking for alternative methods secure indoor spaces.

SARS-CoV-2 Inactivation Potential of Metal Organic Framework Induced Photocatalysis

Efforts to sequence single protein molecules in nanoporeshave been hampered by the lack of techniques with sufficient sensitivity to discern the subtle molecular differences among all twenty amino acids. Here we report ionic current detection of all twenty proteinogenic amino acids in an aerolysin nanopore with the help of a short polycationic carrier. Application of molecular dynamics simulations revealed that the aerolysin nanopore has a built-in single-molecule trap that fully confines a polycationic carrier-bound amino acid inside the sensing region of the aerolysin.

Electrical recognition of the twenty proteinogenic amino acids using an aerolysin nanopore, Nature Biotechnology 2019

In the present work, mesoporous TiO₂ with a photonic structure was elaborated using cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) as a biotemplate by two-step hard template methods.

This strategy enables to replicate the chiral nematic (CN) structure of the photonic films (biotemplate) in TiO₂ films.

A series of iridescent CNCs films with different weight ratios of silica/CNCs composite photonic films were prepared via evaporation induced self-assembly (EISA) method.

Photonic titanium dioxide film obtained from hard template with chiral nematic structure for environmental application, Catalysis Today 2019

Improving the photogeneration and the lifetime of charge carriers associated with light harvesting is among the main challenges facing materials for photocatalysis. We report here the synthesis of mesoporous TiO₂ containing a replica of a chiral nematic structure (CNS) as a photocatalyst with improved light harvesting and photogenerated charge carriers under UV illumination. The CNS of cellulose nanocrystal photonic films, obtained by an evaporation-induced self-assembly method, were successfully transferred into an inorganic TiO₂ film by sol–gel mineralization of the biotemplate.

Enhanced photogenerated charge carriers and photocatalytic activity of biotemplated mesoporous TiO2 films with a chiral nematic structure, American Chemical Society