- Acronym: Glass
- Project Code: PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2021-1242
- Contract Number: 96TE
- Start: 15/05/2022
End: 14/05/2024 - Duration: 24 months
- Budget: 445.000,00 Lei
- Contracting Agency:: Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding
- Coordinating Institution: : University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest – National Research Center for Micro and Nanomaterials
Address: Spl. Independentei 313, Sector 6, Bucharest, Romania
Phone: +4021.402.9465
Coordinator – University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest
Project Manager: Prof. Habil. PhD. Eng. Anton FICAI
Researcher PhD. Ionela-Andreea NEACȘU
PhD Stud. Ludmila MOTELICA
PhD. Stud. Cornelia-Ioana ILIE
PhD. Stud. Georgiana DOLETE
PhD. Stud. Alexa Maria CROITORU
PhD. Stud. Alexandra Cătălina BÎRCĂ
PhD. Stud. Georgiana Mădălina Lemnaru (POPA)
PhD. Stud. Valentin George SĂFTOIU
The project scope is to generate new valences of the glass supports by functionalisation and immobilisation of nanoparticles and also by functionalisation with specific functional groups. Currently, self-cleaning is assured to the glass windows especially due to the presence of a thin coating of TiO2 – according to a photocatalytic mechanism. In this proposal, we are going to develop some organic coatings able to maintain clean surface due to a biomimetic approach that involves the surface functionalisation with (poly)ethylene glycol-like molecules which assure a biomimetic self-cleaning mechanism, similar to the wings of many flies and butterflies and leaves of plants. The generated (coated/functionalised) glasses can be important tools in sample preparation and advanced analysis, which can be useful even in the evaluation of traces because these innovative surfaces can assure a concentration of the analytes onto their surfaces. The proposed solutions are feasible. The team already has proven expertise in glass or silica functionalisation, nanoparticles synthesis, sorption and desorption of analytes, etc.
The project aims at experimental and demonstration research to develop a new functionalised glass surface with different silanisation agents bearing certain functional groups such as amino, carboxyl, thiol, etc. In order to explore the functionalisation of the glass surface, the silanisation method was chosen because a wide range of silanes is available on the market. Thus, the versatility is good enough to obtain the desired functionalities for applications in medicine, environment or forensics. The new active glass surfaces obtained have the ability to provide a high affinity for a wide range of analytes (such as heavy metals, drugs, and organic pollutants -especially with hydrophobic fragments- but also self-cleaning glass surfaces by attachment) ethylene glycol through a biomimetic mechanism, as found in nature: microstructured nano – / – wings, leaves, etc.
