B-MRS at the annual meeting of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC).

Posted on Monday 31 de July de 2017

From the left, Marcos Pimenta, Glaura Goulart Silva (scientific director of SBPMat) and Aldo Zarbin in the panel on carbon nanostructures at the 60th Annual SBPC Meeting.

The Brazilian Materials Research Society (B-MRS) was present at the 69th Annual Meeting of the SBPC (Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science), represented by one of its board members, Professor Glaura Goulart Silva (UFMG). A free event and open to society, the annual SBPC meeting has been held since 1948 in public universities in different Brazilian states. This year, the meeting was held at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), in Belo Horizonte (state of Minas Gerais), from July 16 to 22, with the central theme “Innovation –Diversity – Transformations.”

“The 69th Annual SBPC Meeting was an area of resistance to the dismantling of science and technology in Brazil,” declared B-MRS scientific director, Goulart Silva. “The Brazilian community actively involved in science, of all ages, origins and functions, has united in a clear message: science and education are investments, it is on this basis that we can build a future for our people,” she said.

As part of the event’s program, Professor Goulart Silva participated in the roundtable “Carbon Nanostructures: The Next Technological Revolution?” which took place on July 17 from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. The other members of the roundtable were Professor Aldo Zarbin (UFPR), President of the Brazilian Society of Chemistry (SBQ), and Professor Marcos Pimenta (UFMG), coordinator of the INCT of Carbon Nanomaterials and of the Center for Nanomaterials (CTNano), of which Professor Goulart Silva is vice-coordinator.

Carbon nanomaterials, their structure, properties and applications were presented at the roundtable, which had a large audience and many questions raised, focusing on their potential to contribute to various technological areas. “We discussed how nanotechnology can impact a new technological era that has sustainability as a fundamental requirement,” informed the scientific director of SBPMat. “The members and participants of the roundtable expounded on a joint vision that a wide range of nanomaterials will occupy relevant spaces in future technologies. Not only carbon nanomaterials, but also that carbon nanotubes and graphene are indisputably very important systems in this set,” she says.

According to Goulart Silva, all participants in the session emphasized the need for investments in science and technology in Brazil, so that the advances made in areas such as nanotechnology continue.

Featured paper: Graphene nanoflakes for a super-resistant mortar.

Posted on Monday 31 de July de 2017

[Paper: Enhanced properties of cement mortars with multilayer graphene nanoparticles. Rodrigo Alves e Silva, Paulo de Castro Guetti, Mário Sérgio da Luz, Francisco Rouxinol, Rogério Valentim Gelamo. Construction and Building Materials. Volume 149, 15. September 2017, pages 378-385. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2017.05.146]

Graphene nanoflakes for a super-resistant mortar

Scanning electron microscopy image of the reinforced mortar sample. In the center of the image, some multilayer graphene nanoflakes.

Researchers from Brazilian institutions added nanometric graphene flakes to cement mortar and obtained a composite with resistance of almost 150% higher than that of conventional mortar. By means of simpler, faster and cheaper processes than previously reported in the scientific literature, the team created a reinforced mortar ready for use in civil construction. The work was reported in a paper that has just been published in a journal of the Elsevier publishing house dedicated to investigation and innovative use of materials in construction and repair, Construction and Building Materials (impact factor: 3.169).

Compared to traditional mortar, the new graphene-reinforced mortar can be used in smaller amounts and is less likely to crack over time, explains Professor Rogério Valentim Gelamo, the corresponding author of the article. Moreover, its manufacturing process poses no health or environmental risks and no further procedure is required for its complete handling and application.

Professor Gelamo believes that the powder-based multilayer graphene nanoflakes could be sold in ampoules with the required quantity to be added to 1 cubic meter of mortar. The reinforced mortar would cost around U$ 5 more per cubic meter. “The cost is really low and it could be applied or marketed by a company interested in this, since the large-scale manufacturing is already proficient in our Laboratory of Thin Films and Plasma Processes of the Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro (UFTM) in the city of Uberaba” declares Professor Gelamo.

The idea of this work came about when Gelamo decided to look for applications for the multilayer graphene he had developed during his post-doctorate at the Center for Semiconductor Components from the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), along with Francisco Rouxinol, also a postdoc. The material and its process have already been the object of papers and a patent. In 2010, Gelamo became adjunct professor of the newly created Institute of Technological and Exact Sciences at UFTM. There, teaching in the first Civil Engineering course, Professor Gelamo met the undergraduate student Rodrigo Alves e Silva, who was enthusiastic with the idea of using multilayer graphene in the mortar. Another professor of UFTM, Paulo Guetti, joined them. “Together we carried out the first experiments with these composites, which to our surprise gave excellent results in the first tests,” recalls Professor Gelamo.

The multilayer graphene was obtained from graphite flakes donated by the Brazilian National Grafite company. Using isopropyl alcohol the researchers extracted nanoflakes formed by a maximum of 40 superimposed graphene layers, each one an atom thick, with total thickness of 0.7 nm to 20 nm. The result: multilayer graphene nanoflakes with almost no defects, in the form of powder ready to be dispersed in the mortar. The underlying idea of our work was to use graphene multilayers obtained by simpler, faster and cheaper processes than those used to obtain oxidized and chemically reduced graphene. This enabled to combine practicality and economy with the excellent thermal and mechanical properties of the graphene layers,” says Gelamo. “The way graphene is currently obtained (Hammer or similar method) creates many defects in the graphene structure, which ends up compromising its properties,” he adds.

In the second step, the scientists prepared mortar with the conventional water, cement and sand ratio, and reinforced it with five different percentages of multilayer graphene nanoflakes, ranging from 0% (mortar without graphene) to 0.033%. “Our dispersion was also performed in an innovative and simple way, using only organic solvents mixed directly on the still dry mortar composite,” reports Professor Gelamo. The team was then able to obtain a mixture without the graphene agglomerations that are cited in most articles on cement and graphene composites.

With the five types of mortar, the team prepared cylindrical samples 5 cm in diameter and 10 cm long and tested their compressive and tensile strengths. The tests were performed 3, 7, and 28 days after the mortar preparation, following the respective standards of the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT). All tests showed significant increases in mortar strength when reinforced with the multilayer graphene. In particular, the best tensile strength test result was obtained with samples containing the highest percentage of graphene, 7 days after its manufacture: 144.4% increase in strength compared to conventional mortar samples. As for the compressive strength, the best result (an increase of 95.7%) was achieved with the addition of 0.021% of multilayer graphene, 28 days after the mortar preparation.

The morphology and composition of the samples and the materials used in their manufacture were analyzed using several techniques. These analyses helped the team understand why adding multilayer graphene nanoflakes resulted in such significant mortar strength increases. According to the authors of the article, the presence of this graphene accelerates the hydration reaction of the mortar, generating changes in its structure and composition which in turn improve the propagation of internal stresses through the material, thereby helping to prevent the occurrence of cracks.

Notwithstanding the success obtained by applying the multilayer graphene in the mortar, Professor Gelamo continues looking for other applications for his graphene nanoflakes through partnerships with Brazilian and international groups. “We have used multi-layer graphene in field-emitting devices, batteries, flexible and self-supporting supercapacitors, chemical and biological sensors, nanofluids for machining, and other applications,” he says. “We have also functionalized the graphene multilayers with reactive plasmas in order to change the properties of these materials, with some works already published,” he adds.

The research that originated the Construction and Building Materials article was carried out with financial support from Brazilian agencies CNPq, Capes and Fapemig.

The authors of the paper. From the left, Rodrigo Alves e Silva (UFTM), Paulo de Castro Guetti (UFTM), Mário Sergio da Luz (UFTM), Francisco Paulo Rouxinol (Unicamp) and Rogério Valentim Gelamo (UFTM). — The authors of the paper. From the left, Rodrigo Alves e Silva (UFTM), Paulo de Castro Guetti (UFTM), Mário Sergio da Luz (UFTM), Francisco Paulo Rouxinol (Unicamp), and Rogério Valentim Gelamo (UFTM).

Interview with Prof. Susan Trolier-McKinstry (Penn State), MRS President.

Posted on Monday 31 de July de 2017

foto susan — Prof. Susan Trolier-McKinstry

Piezoelectric materials convert mechanical energy into electric energy and vice versa. They are widely used now for ultrasonic imaging, ink jet printers, sonar systems, sensors, and in precise positioning. Thin film piezoelectric microelectomechanical systems (MEMS) already enable cell phone communications, and offer the possibility of many additional technological changes with the potential for strong social impact. The field of MEMS has already started to generate microscopic machines that are able to capture data from the environment, to process them and to carry out operations involving movement.

This subject will be addressed in a plenary lecture of the XVI B-MRS Meeting by Professor Susan Trolier-McKinstry, who leads a research group at The Pennsylvania State University, USA (Penn State) with expertise in the study and development of piezoelectric thin films and their use in MEMS. In the lecture, the scientist will reveal how she improves the performance of her piezoelectric thin films to use them as sensors, actuators and energy harvesters (that capture small amounts of mechanical energy from the environment to transform them into electrical energy for use them in low-power devices).

At Penn State, Susan Trolier-McKinstry is the Steward S. Flaschen Professor of Ceramic Science and Engineering, Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Director of the Nanofabrication facility. She is also the current president of the Materials Research Society (MRS), which has an international and interdisciplinary membership of about 14,000 people. Previously, Trolier-McKinstry was president of IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control Society and Keramos National Professional Ceramic Engineering Fraternity.

Susan Trolier-McKinstry was born in Syracuse, New York, USA. After completing her primary and secondary studies in public schools in the bordering states of New York and Pennsylvania, she entered Penn State to study Ceramic Science and Engineering. In 4 years of studies, which included her first research work on piezoelectric ceramics, she obtained her B.S. and M.S. degrees. Shortly thereafter, in 1987, she began her doctoral studies in Ceramic Science, also at Penn State, which included a research internship at Hitachi’s Central Research Laboratory in Tokyo, Japan. In both master’s and doctoral works, Troiler-McKinstry was supervised by Professor Robert E. Newnham, an expert in minerals and crystallography who created, in the late 1970s a piezoelectric composite transducer that is now widely used for ultrasound imaging. Susan Troiler-McKinstry received her PhD in 1992 and, at the same year, she began her academic career at Penn State.

Professor Troiler-McKinstry is an associate editor of the journal Applied Physics Letters. She is a fellow of the American Ceramic Society, IEEE and Materials Research Society and a scholar of the World Academy of Ceramics. She has received numerous awards and honors for her research and teaching work, such as the IEEE Ferroelectrics Achievement Award, the Ceramic Education Council’s Outstanding Educator Award, and the Robert L. Coble Award for Young Scholars from the American Ceramic Society, among others. In addition, her biography was included in the book “Successful Women Ceramic and Glass Scientists and Engineers: 100 Inspirational Profiles”, released in 2016.

Besides having developed a distinguished trajectory in research, with more than 12,000 citations to her papers and an h-index=56 according to Google Scholar, Professor Troiler-McKinstry loves teaching and is very proud of the students she has supervised.

Here follows a brief interview with this scientist.

B-MRS Newsletter: – In your opinion, what are your main scientific contributions to the field of piezoelectric thin films? Describe briefly and feel free to share references.

Susan Trolier-McKinstry: – My research group works in three main areas: 1) understanding the factors that control the magnitude of the dielectric and piezoelectric responses of materials, 2) Processing science of electroceramic films, 3) demonstration of low voltage microelectromechanical systems for actuator arrays, sensors, and energy harvesting. In the fundamental area, we have studied the role that domain structure and domain walls play in controlling the properties of high strain piezoelectric films based on ferroelectric compositions. We demonstrated the length scale over which domain walls move collectively, and have quantified the role that grain boundaries and defect chemistry have in influencing wall mobility of lead zirconate titanate. We also contributed to the development of materials that have piezoelectric coefficients that are several times larger than conventional thin films, as well as films that have energy harvesting figures of merit that exceed those of conventional films by ten times. In many cases, it has been necessary to invent and calibrate new tools for assessing the piezoelectric properties (including wafer flexure tools, and mapping interferometers for quantitative piezoelectric measurements on clamped and released parts). Once interesting materials are developed, we then work on understanding how to scale the deposition to large substrate sizes, alternate substrates such as polymers, glasses, and metals. It is also critical to be able to laterally pattern the piezoelectric films without degrading their properties. Thus, the group also studies methods to pattern at length scales ranging from 100 nm to 200 mm. Because the properties of high strain piezoelectric materials are a strong function of the composition and the crystallinity, it is imperative to develop patterning processes that do not degrade either of these factors. Finally, we have made microelectromechanical systems over a wide range of application space, including adaptive optics, rf switches, acceleration sensors, energy harvesters, and CMOS – replacement switches.

B-MRS Newsletter: – Why use piezoelectric materials in MEMS technology?

Susan Trolier-McKinstry: – Many MEMS devices are intended to either generate or sense motion. Piezoelectric materials allow this to be done with very high sensitivities in sensors, and with low voltages in actuators. Thus, it is possible to replace high voltage electrostatic devices with low voltage piezoelectric counterparts. This, in turn, simplifies the electrical system, and allows significant miniaturization of devices. For example, we are now working on a medical ultrasound system for imaging which is small enough that the whole device (including all of the electronics) can be put in a pill and swallowed for investigation of the gastrointestinal tract.

B-MRS Newsletter: – Your research group has already manufactured piezoelectric MEMS devices. Have any of these systems left the lab to be commercialized? Describe in few words, please.

Susan Trolier-McKinstry: – The field of piezoelectric MEMS is exploding now. Thus, many of the materials developments that we have made over the years are being utilized in systems being commercialized now.

B-MRS Newsletter: – What are, in your opinion, the main challenges or goals that material research societies have today?

Susan Trolier-McKinstry: – Scientific societies play crucial roles in improving scientific communication and in helping their members have productive careers. The materials research societies underpin essential interdisciplinary communication through meetings and publications because our field sits at the juncture of chemistry, physics, and engineering. Thus, it is common to see colleagues from different disciplines meeting together and discussing key issues that cross fields at materials research meetings. Key to our future is fostering the diversity of people and fields covered by the society.

B-MRS Newsletter: – In your view, how could the MRS and B-MRS communities enhance their interactions in a productive way?

Susan Trolier-McKinstry: – There are many possibilities here. Good examples might be to identify a particular joint program around an education, outreach or communication goal. One possibility would be to establish a joint program to translate education materials from one language to another to increase the quality of materials education around the world. Other possibilities might be joint programming of a symposium at a meeting, or utilizing publication vehicles like MRS Advances to make work presented at B-MRS meetings more widely available. All of these will hinge on good interactions between the people and societies involved.

On XVI B-MRS Meeting website, click on the photo of Susan Trolier-McKinstry and see her mini CV and the abstract of her plenary lecture: http://sbpmat.org.br/16controter/home/

Interview with Prof. Alexander Yarin (University of Illinois at Chicago, USA).

Posted on Monday 31 de July de 2017

At the University of Illinois at Chicago, Professor Alexander Yarin and his team use agro-waste materials derived from various plants and animals to form nanofibers. Such nanofibers possess important properties, which are of interest for various applications. The group demonstrated that the method they employ (solution blowing) can be implemented on the industrial scale using commercially available equipment.

At the XVI B-MRS Meeting (September 10-14, Gramado, Brazil), Yarin will deliver a plenary lecture on the fabrication and properties of these nanofibers formed from different agro-waste materials, and will show the results of their application as biomedical materials and adsorbents useful for heavy metal ion removal from polluted water. He will also discuss potential applications of such biodegradabe and biocompatible nano-textured membranes for protection of pruned plants from esca fungi and against mold invasion in wood.

Alexander L. Yarin graduated in Applied Physics from the Polytechnical Institute of St. Petersburg (Russia) in 1977. Then he moved to Moscow to the Institute for Problems in Mechanics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, where he remained until 1990 working as a researcher. In 1980, he received PhD in Physics and Mathematics and, in 1989, habilitation (DSc), both from the Institute for Problems in Mechanics. In parallel, Yarin was an adjunct Professor at the Physico-Technical Institute and at the Aviation Technology Institute in Moscow.

From 1990 to 2006, he was a Professor at the renowned Israeli university Technion (Israel Institute of Technology), where he held, from 1999, the Eduard Pestel Chair of Mechanical Engineering. During his sabbaticals, he was a visiting Professor at two American institutions, the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1996-1997) and the University of Illinois at Chicago (2003-2004).

Since 2006, Alexander Yarin is a Distinguished Professor of the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago. At this University, Yarin heads the Multiscale Mechanics and Nanotechnology Laboratory, a space of more than 2,200 square feet dedicated to the experimental and theoretical investigation of the mechanics of fluids and solids, mainly in the scale that ranges from a few millimeters to the nanometers.

Yarin is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS). He is an Associate Editor of the journal “Experiments in Fluids” and a member of the editorial boards of “Archives of Mechanics” and “Electrospinning”. He is a member of the International Editorial Advisory Board of the Bulletin of the Polish Academy of Sciences and a co-Editor of Springer Handbook of Experimental Fluid Mechanics published in 2008. He has received distinctions from the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and from Technion (Israel), from the American Technion Society and the American Physical Society (United States), from the Technical University Darmstadt (Germany), from the Society of Mechanics of Taiwan, and from Elsevier, among others.

Owner of an h index of 54, Professor Yarin is the author of 4 books, 12 book chapters, 6 patents and about 300 scientific articles. His academic production has more than 21,500 citations, according to Google Scholar.

B-MRS newsletter: – In your plenary talk, you will talk about materials obtained by the process of solution blowing. Describe in few words what this process consists of and whether it is already used on an industrial scale.

Alexander Yarin: – Solution blowing is a relatively novel process designed to form monolithic and core-shell nanofibers from petroleum-derived and biopolymers derived from agro-waste (the latter are discussed in detail in the present talk). In this process, a slowly moving polymer solution jet is issued into a high-speed subsonic coaxial air jet. As a result, the polymer solution jet is stretched, then bends due to the aerodynamically-driven bending instability which causes dramatic stretching and thinning. In parallel, solvent evaporates, and precipitated dry nanofibers are deposited on a target surface in the form of a nonwoven mat. Recently, the solution blowing process was demonstrated using an industrially-available equipment and nanofiber mats containing soy protein were formed.

B-MRS newsletter: – What, in your opinion, are your main scientific or technological contributions to the field of nanofibers and related topics? Feel free to share some (few) references if you wish.

Alexander Yarin: – The explanation and theoretical description of the physical mechanisms involved in solution blowing and electrospinning, novel experimental methods and approaches, a wide usage of biopolymers, in particular, those derived as by-products of biofuel production, development of novel applications. Two recent comprehensive monographs outline many of the above-mentioned results:

A.L. Yarin, B. Pourdeyhimi, S. Ramakrishna. Fundamentals and Applications of Micro- and Nanofibers. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2014.
A.L. Yarin, I.V. Roisman, C. Tropea. Collision Phenomena in Liquids and Solids. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2017.

B-MRS newsletter: – If you desire, leave an invitation to your plenary talk.

Alexander Yarin: – Green nano-textured materials can become such great scorers as Pele! Come and see how.

More information

On XVI B-MRS Meeting website, click on the photo of Alexander Yarin and see his mini CV and the abstract of his plenary lecture: http://sbpmat.org.br/16encontro/home/

(Português) FAPESP financiará diárias e transporte de pesquisadores para participação no XVI B-MRS Meeting.

Posted on Wednesday 12 de July de 2017

Sorry, this entry is only available in Brazilian Portuguese.

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Condensed Matter Physics.

Posted on Friday 7 de July de 2017

The Laboratory of Nanostructured Films and Spectroscopy at São Paulo State University (UNESP), http://www.unesp.br/international/, campus in Presidente Prudente, SP, Brazil, invites applications for a postdoctoral research fellowship in the field of micro-Raman and SERS (surface-enhanced Raman scattering) spectroscopy, and Cell Membrane Models funded by Foundation for Research Support of the State of São Paulo (FAPESP) contract. The successful candidate will conduct research on the molecular interaction between analytes of interest and cell membrane models, which includes the following activities:

Synthesis of metallic nanoparticles applied as “SERS substrate”.
Incorporation of such nanoparticles in Langmuir and Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films and vesicles of phospholipids, applied as cell membrane models.
Investigate the interactions between the analytes of interest and the cell membrane models using micro-Raman and SERS spectroscopy.
From the results, propose molecular mechanisms involved in the interaction cell membrane models/analytes.
Develop a methodology that allows investigating the cell membrane models in a complementary way using both micro-Raman techniques (SERS) and confocal fluorescence microscopy.

The fellowship for postdoctoral researchers allows you to carry out a long-term research project (18 months), starting at September/01/2017.

Applicants must have a Ph.D. in physics, chemistry, or related fields. Experience in phospholipid self-assembly and basic optical microscopy and vibrational spectroscopy is required. The successful candidate must have excellent communication skills and excel in a highly collaborative research environment. In addition to the timely publication of research results in peer-reviewed journals, the responsibilities of the postdoc include drafting progress reports. Interested individuals should send (i) CV with the list of publications and (II) two letters of recommendation to case@fct.unesp.br. The deadline for application is July /31/2017.

Available facilities: http://www.fct.unesp.br/#!/departamentos/fisica-quimica-e-biologia/laboratorios/lab-filmes-finos-e-esp-raman/

B-MRS newsletter. Year 4, issue 6.

Posted on Monday 3 de July de 2017

The newsletter of the Brazilian Materials Research Society News update from Brazil for the Materials community

English edition. Year 4, issue 6.

XVI B-MRS Meeting (Gramado, Brazil, September 10-14)

Registration – discounts. Registration is open. All categories have discounts until August 31st. See here the different values for B-MRS members (you can become a member during registration) and for non-members. Attention: The registration fee of the event + B-MRS membership fee is less than the registration fee of the event for non-members.

Student Awards. Contributions of undergraduate or graduate students that are accepted for presentation at the event, may compete for awards from B-MRS and from the American Chemical Society (ACS) publisher. Up to 46 works will be awarded. The top 6 (3 posters and 3 oral) will receive cash prizes. To participate in the selection the author must submit by August 14 an extended abstract supplemented to the conventional abstract. Learn more about student awards, here.

Mini courses. On Sunday, September 10, those enrolled in the event will be able to attend, at no extra cost, the mini courses on scientific writing and publication, taught by Prof. Valtencir Zucolotto and by professionals of the Elsevier publishing house. More information and reservation, coming soon.

Plenary lectures. Seven internationally renowned scientists will speak about cutting edge research on subjects such as materials for biomedical and environmental applications; biomimetic surfaces; heterogeneous catalysis; materials and technologies for miniaturized electronic circuits; piezoelectric films and their energy, optics and electronics applications. Learn more by clicking on the speakers’ photos, here.

Memorial lecture. At the opening of the event, SBPMat will pay homage to Professor João Alziro H. da Jornada, from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), who will deliver the traditional Memorial Lecture “Joaquim da Costa Ribeiro”.

Venue. The FAURGS event center is in the center of Gramado, within walking distance of restaurants, shops, tourist attraction spots and hotels.

City of the event. Gramado is a charming tourist town, with a wide and qualified chain of hotels, gastronomic restaurants and shops. This attractive city is also the starting point for a series of sightseeing highlights that explores the area’s natural florid beauty, its history marked by German and Italian immigration, and the theme parks around the city.

Organization. Meet the organizing committee. Here.

Exhibitors. 23 companies have already confirmed their participation in the industrial exhibition. Contact for sponsoring and exhibition issues: Alexandre, comercial@sbpmat.org.br.

Featured paper

A team of researchers from the Nanotechnology Brazilian National Lab has developed a paper-based electrochemical sensor having, as a conductive material, graphite film, obtained through the simple technique of painting the paper with an ordinary pencil. After making some adjustments to the manufacturing process of the sensor, the scientific team achieved exceptional performance of the device in detecting a biological compound present in all living cells, but particularly difficult to detect. The research was recently reported in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. See our news story.

People from our community

Our interviewee is João Alziro Herz da Jornada, who will be honored by SBPMat through the Joaquim da Costa Ribeiro Memorial Lecture during the society’s 16th annual event. Jornada was a professor at the Physics Institute of UFRGS for more than four decades, until his retirement in 2016. He also held various management positions in science and technology institutions, such as the presidency of the Brazilian National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology, where he worked for 11 years. A pioneer in Brazil in the study of the effects of high pressures on materials, Jornada also made important contributions on superhard materials. He is the author of papers published in journals of high impact factor, notably Science and Nature. In the interview, the researcher recalled how his fascination with science emerged, describing his main contributions to the field of materials. He also presented us with an inspirational message for the young readers, in which he spoke about the various dimensions that make scientific activity a rich and stimulating human experience. Jornada also told us what he will address in his memorial lecture in September in Gramado: the complex mechanisms that generate economic and social impact from basic research – a very relevant topic in the current setting of research funding cuts in Brazil. See the interview.

Reading tips

Nanoparticles in the human body: study proposes an in vitro test mode that best simulates in vivo conditions (based on paper from Small). Here.
Scientists from Brazilian institutions advance in the understanding of friction by providing experimental evidence of the influence of phonons on the phenomena at the nano scale (based on paper from Scientific Reports). Here.
Scientists develop LDH nanotubes hosting quantum dots and create a luminescent material (based on paper from Chemical Communications). Here.
Impact Factors 2016: see the highlights in journals from the materials field of the Elsevier and Wiley publishers.

Opportunities

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Condensed Matter Physics. Here.

Events

1ª Escola Brasileira de Síncrotron (EBS).
Campinas, SP (Brazil). July 10 – 21, 2017.Site.
2º Ciclo de Minicursos de Cristalografia. Juiz de Fora, MG (Brazil). July,10 – 21, 2017. Site.
XI Brazilian Symposium on Glass and Related Materials (XI Brazglass). Curitiba, PR (Brazil). July 13 – 16, 2017. Site.
VIII Método Rietveld de Refinamento de Estrutura. Fortaleza, CE (Brazil). July 24 – 28, 2017. Site.
XXXVIII Congresso Brasileiro de Aplicações de Vácuo na Indústria e na Ciência (CBRAVIC) + III Workshop de Tratamento e Modificação de Superfícies (WTMS). São José dos Campos (Brazil). August 21 – 25, 2017. Site.
IUMRS-ICAM 2017. Kyoto (Japan). August 27 – Setember 1, 2017. Site.
International Conference on Luminescence (ICL-2017). João Pessoa (Brazil). August 27 – September 1, 2017.
Site.
23a Reunião da Associação Brasileira de Cristalografia. Vitória, ES (Brazil). September 5 – 9 2017. Site.
XVI Encontro da SBPMat/ XVI B-MRS Meeting. Gramado, RS (Brazil). September 10 – 14, 2017. Site.
18th International Conference on Internal Friction and Mechanical Spectroscopy (ICIFMS-18). Foz do Iguaçu, PR (Brazil). September 12 – 15 2017. Site.
2ª Conferência Nacional em Materiais Celulares (MatCel’2017) + Conferência Internacional em Dinâmica de Materiais Celulares (DynMatCel’2017). Aveiro (Portugal). September 25 – 27, 2017.
Site.
1st Pan American Congress of Nanotechnology. Fundamentals and Applications to Shape the Future. Guarujá, SP (Brazil). November 7 – 30 2017. Site.

Submit your suggestion for any section of our newsletter: comunicacao@sbpmat.org.br

People from our community: interview with João Alziro Herz da Jornada.

Posted on Friday 30 de June de 2017

João Alziro Herz da Jornada was born on June 1, 1949 in São Borja (Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil). Between 1968 and 1971, he studied Physics at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), in the city of Porto Alegre. Shortly after receiving his bachelor’s degree, he started his master’s degree in Physics, also at UFRGS, which he completed in 1973. His master’s dissertation focused on one of the subjects which he would pursue throughout his scientific career, the effect of high pressures on materials.

In August of 1974, he assumed the position of assistant professor of the Physics Institute of UFRGS. From 1977 to 1979 he did a PhD in Science at UFRGS, where he developed new research on the effects of high pressures on materials, guided by Professor Fernando Claudio Zawislak. His doctoral thesis received praise from UFRGS. In 1983 and 1984, he carried out his postdoctoral studies at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an institute dedicated to promoting innovation and industrial competitiveness through metrology, science and technology in the United States. In April 1985, he became a full professor at the Physics Institute of UFRGS, a position he held until his retirement in February 2016. Since then, he has been a guest contributor at this institution. Throughout his academic career at UFRGS, he held several management positions, including president of the university’s research chamber and coordinator of post-graduate programs at the Institute of Physics. Professor Jornada also created and coordinated the Laboratory of High Pressures and Advanced Materials of IF-UFRGS.

From 1993 to 2000, Jornada was the coordinator of the executive committee of the Rio Grande do Sul Metrology Network Association (RS Metrology Network), an entity created in 1992, acting in qualified metrology.

From 2000 to 2004, Jornada was director of scientific and industrial metrology at the National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology (Inmetro), a federal agency linked to the Ministry of Industry, created in 1973, whose mission is to strengthen national companies, increasing their productivity by adopting mechanisms aimed at improving the quality of products and services.

In December 2004, Professor Jornada assumed the presidency of Inmetro, remaining in the position for 11 years, until December 2015. During his mandate, Jornada promoted changes in the strategy, training, infrastructure and management of Inmetro, which led the institution to increase its national and international scientific recognition and to develop interactions with academia, companies and government.

Jornada received a series of honors, mainly from the Rio Grande do Sul Research Foundation (FAPERGS), from the Presidency of the Republic, Brazilian Air Force, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Brazilian Navy. He has been a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences since 2001, and a fellow of TWAS (The World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries) since 2008. Since 2016, he has been a distinguished fellow of the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils, a network of individuals and organizations involved in competitiveness strategies, based in Washington (USA).

The scientist is the author of about 100 papers published in scientific journals, including Science and Nature.

SBPMat Bulletin: Tell us what led you to become a scientist and, in particular, to work in the area of Condensed Matter Physics.

João A. Herz da Jornada: I had a great interest in science from a very early age. The environment in the late 1950s and early 1960s, during my childhood and adolescence, was especially stimulating for the scientific career, especially Physics. There was so much emphasis in the press on topics that fascinated me, such as rockets, sputnik, space race, nuclear power, transistor, computers… It was a time when the world saw Science with extreme optimism and confidence, truly the “endless frontier”, in the words of Vannevar Bush. Science represented certainties, providing the sure way to answer all questions, large and small, a true, complete and unified worldview – perhaps the apex of the Enlightenment ideology. All this fascinated me. I have always enjoyed reading, learning, experimenting and building things involving Physics, Chemistry and Electronics, enjoying the pleasure of discovery and accomplishment. Therefore, following a scientific career was very natural. I graduated in Physics and did a masters and PhD in Experimental Physics, applying techniques of Nuclear Physics to problems of Condensed Matter Physics, under the guidance of Fernando Zawislak. At that time Condensed Matter Physics was emerging dynamically, there were plenty of interesting problems to tackle and also relevant demands for applications in various areas. My PhD work involved designing and building very high pressure chambers, requiring deeper knowledge about some materials properties; so I began to take interest beyond Condensed Matter Physics, entering into Materials Science. Moreover, I was enthusiastic about the potentialities of the Condensed Matter Physics technique, because it allows considerable and controllable variations of interatomic distances, determinants of properties of solids, besides generating phase transformations. As there was no expertise at all in high pressure in Brazil, I decided to create a Laboratory to develop the technique, implement good experimental infrastructure and explore its possibilities as a new research instrument in our surroundings. In fact, we set up a good laboratory, with different types of systems for producing high pressure, designed and built right here, enabling high-temperature and in-situ measurements using various probing techniques such as optical spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction. We were then able to develop several lines of research in Condensed Matter Physics. I am using the plural to emphasize teamwork with a fantastic team of students and collaborators. The mastery of this technique further increased my interest in Materials Science because it offered a new window of opportunity for the production of new materials, especially superhard materials such as diamond and its composites. The production of synthetic diamonds in our Laboratory undeniably led us to Materials Science, with some very representative research lines, such as diamond synthesis by high pressures and by CVD, production of compacts and composites of high hardness materials, production of diamond cutting tools and cBN, etc. Subsequently we started work on ceramic materials, involving both basic research and applied research, in association with companies to produce structural ceramics.

But there is also a factor I believe has influenced my career choice: both Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science offer tremendous possibilities for innovations and wealth generation for society, our society that despite the difficulties, supports and pays for our work. I have a sense of duty, shared by many of my generation, in order to effectively help our Country’s development.

SBPMat Bulletin: What do you believe are your main contributions to the Materials area? We would like to ask you to go beyond listing the results and briefly describe the contributions you consider as the most relevant or most outstanding. In your response, we ask that you consider all aspects of scientific activity.

João A. Herz da Jornada: The answer is not easy, given the multiple dimensions of the question and the natural difficulty of speaking about one’s own deeds. I will comment briefly on some points. Firstly, the formation of people, in a varied spectrum of levels within the area of Materials: Doctors, Masters, undergraduate students and scientific initiation fellows. In fact, I believe the formation of quality human resources is the greatest contribution of basic research in a country like Brazil, still under development. I am very proud to have contributed to the scientific development of many people, in particular the many doctors I have helped who are now in important leadership positions. Another aspect that I consider relevant is with regard to the construction, together with dedicated students and collaborators, of the unique laboratory infrastructure in the area of high pressures and associated techniques, enabling many research works and also some that support the Industry. We implemented the high pressure technique in Brazil, building various types of equipment, and applied it in a wide range of scientific and technological works, including synthesizing diamonds and other advanced materials for the first time in the Country.

Like all Brazilian researchers, my scientific contributions, especially publications, are detailed in the Lattes Curriculum, but from a personal point of view I have been very pleased with some of the publications in high impact journals, such as Science, Nature, PRL and PR, which were the results of works entirely carried out in our Laboratory, with own ideas and with equipments largely constructed by us, often using scrap from old equipments. Another contribution to the Science of Materials was the creation of the Materials Laboratory at Inmetro, during my term as president of that institution. In addition to being an interesting scientific program and a very high-level team, the largest electronic microscopy infrastructure in the Southern Hemisphere was implemented, accessible to the entire scientific and technological community in the country. At UFRGS, I was one of the founders of the Postgraduate Program in Materials Science and of the Center for Microscopy and Microanalysis. I also highlight the construction of a network of international partnerships involving materials and high pressure studies.

SBPMat Bulletin: You will be honored at the XVI SBPMat/B-MRS Meeting with the “Joaquim da Costa Ribeiro” Memorial Lecture. Could you briefly comment on what you will discuss in this talk and/or leave an invitation to our readers.

João A. Herz da Jornada: I am honored by this recognition and invite the readers to the lecture; I will be very pleased to have the meaningful participation of our community. The theme will be the connection between Materials Science and Innovation, from a perspective not often discussed in Brazil, more specifically the complex mechanisms that generate economic and social impact from basic research. I believe this theme is currently very relevant at a time of severe budgetary restrictions for Science in Brazil. It is important to have an in-depth understanding of the subject, using the same scientific approach we work with, based on evidence, good logic, rigor, critical thinking, open-mindedness and broad discussion. We will discuss the need to work with new concepts, such as the capacity for absorption, capacity for appropriation of knowledge and connectivity, to better understand the problem. We will see that Materials Science is a particularly important area, not only because the specific associated knowledge is very close to applications, but also because its multidisciplinary nature unavoidably involves a wide range of connections – one of the important factors of an innovative “ecosystem”.

SBPMat Bulletin: Please leave a message for the readers who are starting their scientific careers.

João A. Herz da Jornada: As a message to those who are beginning their career, I would like to suggest reflecting on a famous idea of the great Enlightenment philosopher, David Hume, who wrote this famous quote: “reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions”. What does it mean in the present context? Science is an essentially rational undertaking of the human spirit. It requires logic, intelligence, disciplined and rigorous work. But it also requires creativity, imagination, connection with people, dreams, and a lot of will power – primarily passion. Passion inspires us and mobilizes us for work, however, it is also nourished by the challenges and results of a beautiful work, and also nourished by the highly social and stimulating nature of the scientific environment. These two dimensions must also be recognized and properly cared for. Materials Science provides us with a huge range of beautiful challenges, constantly renewed by their own dynamics and by the demands for applications, which are always connecting us with society. It provides good chances of rewarding results, both scientific and technological. Its multidisciplinary nature, always requiring much interaction, gives us a rich and stimulating human experience.

Featured paper: Pencil and paper to make an electrochemical sensor.

Posted on Friday 30 de June de 2017

[Paper: Direct Drawing Method of Graphite onto Paper for High-Performance Flexible Electrochemical Sensors. Santhiago, Murilo; Strauss, Mathias; Pereira, Mariane P.; Chagas, Andreia S.; Bufon, Carlos C. B. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2017, 9 (13), pp 11959–11966. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b15646]

Pencil and paper to make an electrochemical sensor

Perhaps many of us have not thought of this before: painting a paper sheet with a graphite pencil creates, in addition to a drawing, a layer of electrically conductive material (graphite, made up of carbon atoms) on a flexible, inexpensive and widely available substrate (the paper). In other words, this extremely simple and quick method produces a very attractive platform for manufacturing sensors and other devices.

Based on this method of transferring graphite from pencil to paper, a team of Brazilian scientists developed a flexible electrochemical sensor. The device showed exceptional performance among similar sensors in the detection of a biological compound that is very difficult to detect , but also very relevant because it is present in all cells, fulfilling important functions in the metabolism of living beings.

The work was mostly carried out in the Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano) of the National Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM). Some analyses were conducted at the Multiuser Laboratory of Advanced Optical Spectroscopy of the Institute of Chemistry of UNICAMP, the State University of Campinas.

Researchers of the Laboratory of Functional Devices and Systems (LNNano/CNPEM): the coordinator Carlos Bufon (left) e and, Murilo Santhiago. — Researchers of the Laboratory of Functional Devices and Systems (LNNano/CNPEM): the coordinator Carlos Bufon (left) and Murilo Santhiago.

“One of the main contributions of the work was to show the efficiency of electrochemical devices prepared through a process of direct transfer of graphite on paper,” points out Carlos César Bof Bufon, corresponding author of a scientific article about the study, which was recently published in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces (impact factor = 7,504). Prof. Bufon and Dr. Murilo Santhiago lead the study, and all the authors are researchers of the Laboratory of Functional Devices and Systems at LNNano/CNPEM.

The work began with the aim of manufacturing carbon and/or hybrid electrochemical devices that would efficiently detect biological compounds, says Bufon. A survey of scientific literature showed the team of scientists that various types of carbon electrodes prepared through a wide variety of methods had already been reported, and that they all exchanged electrons very slowly when tested with some model molecules. In other words, for biological molecules they were not efficient electrochemical sensors. The team then chose the simplest carbon electrode preparation method (the pencil drawing) and decided to investigate why the material obtained did not show good results when used as an electrochemical sensor of these molecules. “We then decided to work on this issue by mapping the problems observed in other works and improving the aspects regarding the graphite surface”, states Santhiago.

The team was able to verify, for example, that the process of transferring graphite from pencil to paper left micro and nano debris on the surface of the electrode. To remove them, the researchers performed a quick electrochemical treatment on the electrode, which generated oxygen bubbles on the surface, which helped remove the debris and other impurities from the carbon film and push them away. “After this treatment, we found that the sensor response was one of the best for this type of material”, says Santhiago. To explain the exceptional performance, the scientists analyzed the carbon film before and after treatment using different materials characterization techniques and found that the electrochemical treatment generated changes in the structure and chemical composition of the carbon film surface.

After optimizing the paper-based carbon electrode, the team tested its ability to detect biological molecules and chose nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide (NAD) as the analyte. This molecule is often used in tests, not only because of its relevance (it participates in more than 300 biological processes), but also because of the challenges of its detection. Therefore, the scientists had to make some adjustments in the electrode in order to make it more selective (to only detect NAD) and more sensitive (to detect small amounts of the molecule).

Picture of the paper-based electrochemical sensor.

Then, the scientific team inserted on the surface of the electrode a compound that facilitates the transfer of electrons, the dye Meldola`s Blue. In the NAD detection tests, the final version of the sensor showed excellent performance, presenting the best results so far reported regarding the selectivity and speed of detection among paper-based electrodes. “Now, the simplest method is also the most efficient one, the one with the greatest application potential”, concludes Murilo Santhiago.

Following the success of manufacturing high-efficiency pencil-based graphite electrodes, the team continued its research on the subject. The scientists are now studying other applications of the material in electrochemical devices, including wearable ones, for the detection of species of biological and environmental interest. They are simultaneously working on the scalability of the manufacturing process to minimize small variations between devices – not a trivial point when we consider that the method is based on the manual use of a graphite pencil, among other manual processes. “Achieving scalability and high-efficiency materials at the same time is not always an easy task”, says Bufon, citing the example of graphene, which was initially isolated using adhesive tape through a simple and manual process, and with reproducibility problems.

The research was funded by CNPq and FAPESP, and used the infrastructure of the Brazilian National System of Nanotechnology Laboratories (SisNANO) at LNNano.

ACS Publications will award prizes to the best student contributions of the XVI B-MRS Meeting.

Posted on Thursday 29 de June de 2017

Until August 14, undergratudate and graduate students who are authors of accepted abstracts can apply for the student awards of the XVI B-MRS Meeting. In addition to the traditional “Bernhard Gross Award” from the Brazilian Materials Research Society, this edition of the event will feature awards from the publisher of the American Chemical Society (ACS Publications), responsible for a number of very prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journals in the materials field.

The Bernhard Gross Award was established by SBPMat in honor of the pioneer of Brazilian materials research Bernhard Gross, and it distinguish the best works (up to 1 oral and 1 poster) from each symposium.

Among the winners of the Bernhard Gross Award, the three best posters and the three best oral presentations will receive the “ACS Publications Best Poster Prize” and the “ACS Publications Best Oral Presentation Prize” respectively. The prizes will consist of US $ 500 for each winning work, in addition to the certificate. The ACS awards will be sponsored by the following ACS’s journals: ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, ACS Nano, Nano Letters, Chemistry of Materials, JACS and ACS Omega.

In order to compete for the prizes, students have to submit through the website of the event, an extended abstract, elaborated according to the template that is available in the instructions for authors.

The papers will be evaluated considering the quality of the extended abstracts and presentations, as well as the scientific contribution of the research work.

The Student Awards Ceremony will take place at the closing of the XVI B-MRS Meeting, on September 14. Prizes will only be given if the winner students are present at the ceremony.

Seis periódicos da ACS patrocinarão os prêmios para as melhores contribuições de estudantes. — Six ACS journals will sponsor the prizes for the best student contributions.