Due to the high participation in the XVIII B-MRS meeting (Balneário Camboriú, September 22 to 26), and to ensure everyone’s comfort, the sessions and activities will take place in two hotels, 300 meters apart: Hotal Sibara Flat & Conventions and Mercure Camboriu Hotel. Both venues are located in the center of the city, close to many hotels, restaurants and shops, and some meters from the sea.
In addition, the opening session of the event will be held at the Cristo Luz Complex, one of the main tourist attractions in the city, with impressive panoramic views.
Opening session (opening ceremony, memorial lecture and welcome cocktail):
Where? Cristo Luz Complex. Rua Indonésia, 800, Balneário Camboriú.
When? September 22 (Sunday), starting at 7:30 pm.
How to get? The complex is a 10-minute taxi/Uber ride from the Sibara Hotel. There will be free shuttle service between Sibara Hotel and “Complexo Cristo Luz” from 5:00 pm on. It is recommended to arrive in advance.
Oral sessions of symposia K, M, S and U: at the Mercure Camboriú Hotel. Avenida Atlântica, 2010, Balneário Camboriú.
All other program sessions and activities (oral sessions of all other symposia, all poster sessions, plenary lectures, technical lectures of exhibitors, pre-event tutorial, exhibitors fair, coffee breaks, secretariat, workshops and round tables): at Hotel Sibara. Avenida Brasil, 1500, Balneário Camboriú.
Conference Party
Where? Lounge of the Green Valley Club.
When? September 25 (Wednesday), starting at 9 pm.
How much? 20 reais. Tickets (limited) will be on sale at the event secretariat from September 23 (Monday).
After blood, bone is the most frequently implanted/ transplanted tissue, with about 2 million bone grafts performed each year worldwide – a number that tends to increase at the rate of population aging. A well-known case is that of the jaw graft to allow firmer dental implants. However, many other causes, such as tumors, severe fractures, congenital malformations or even infections, may cause a patient to need a graft, that is to say, an implant of a natural or synthetic piece of bone to support the natural growth of bone tissue.
In Barcelona, at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), a research group has been successfully working on the development of innovative tissue regeneration biomaterials. Led by Professor Maria-Pau Ginebra, the multidisciplinary group consists of 30 researchers. After many published papers and patents obtained, Professor Ginebra decided to found, along with other members of the group, a spin-off company to bring the results of years of research into real life. Thus, in 2013, Mimetis Biomaterials was created, dedicated to nature-inspired bone regeneration solutions.
On the afternoon of September 24, Prof. Maria-Pau Ginebra will deliver a plenary lecture at the XVIII B-MRS Meeting. She will talk about a new generation of bone graft biomaterials, made through nature-inspired methods that allow control of the structure and composition of the material at the nano scale. The resulting biomaterials bring together the benefits of both natural and artificial bones, including the possibility of producing personalized grafts on 3D printers.
See our mini-interview with this Spanish scientist, Full Professor and Head of the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at UPC, President of Mimetis Biomaterials, and Member of the Editorial Board of Acta Biomaterialia, Journal of Tissue Engineering and the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
B-MRS Newsletter: – You work in a research area that has a direct impact on society. What, in your opinion, is your scientific discovery with the greatest actual or potential impact? Please describe it very briefly.
One of the great challenges in the field of bone regeneration is the development of synthetic materials that are able to be degraded and transformed in newly formed bone. In this case, the synchronization between material degradation and new bone deposition is critical, and very difficult to achieve. We have demonstrated that this can be accomplished by using biomimetic processing routes, which allow tuning the nanostructure and composition of hydroxyapatite, mimicking more closely the mineral phase of bone. In this way the synthetic material can enter the natural bone remodeling cycle, allowing for this progressive transformation in new bone tissue.
B-MRS Newsletter: – Turning scientific knowledge into products is not an easy task. In your experience, what are the most important factors in getting a lab research to become a product on the market?
The transformation of the scientific achievements into real products is indeed a great challenge. This is particularly difficult in the biomedical field, where the scientists face a number of regulatory restrictions which were often overlooked during the previous stages of more “academic” research. In my experience, to be successful, you need the confluence of a good idea and the right people. Moreover, you need money. In summary, in my experience there are three main aspects that determine the success of the translation of a good idea to the market: 1) selecting a good team, with people mastering the different aspects of entrepreneurship, which we, as scientist, do not know; from regulation/legislation to marketing and financial aspects; 2) finding appropriate investors is always necessary; the innovation in the biomedical field is particularly expensive; 3) being willing to work really hard.
For more information on this speaker and the plenary talk she will deliver at the XVIII B-MRS Meeting, click on the speaker’s photo and the title of the lecture here https://www.sbpmat.org.br/18encontro/#lectures.
Many shades of blue, red and purple that we can see in the vegetable kingdom (for example, in grapes, raspberries, eggplants and flowers such as violets) are known to be generated by the presence of natural pigments called anthocyanins. However, what makes anthocyanin express in a plant a certain tone of this wide range? This intriguing basic science issue has applications of great interest to the food industry in its quest for healthier dyes from natural components.
A thorough answer will be presented in a plenary lecture of the XVIII B-MRS Meeting by Stefano Baroni, Full Professor of Condensed Matter Theoretical Physics at Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA) – an institution located in Trieste (Italy), dedicated to research and graduate studies in various areas of science. Baroni has been studying that issue, using, mainly, a computational method that considers phenomena occurring at the molecular level over several time scales.
Prof. Stefano Baroni is an internationally renowned Italian scientist who loves to invent and improve computational methods to unveil the properties of matter at the molecular scale and apply them to problems of fundamental and applicative interest. For example, Baroni is one of the principal creators of Density Functional Perturbation Theory (DFPT), a computational tool that allows the study of physical properties of materials that depend on responses to external perturbations. He is also the founder and one the main instigators of the Quantum ESPRESSO, project, one of the most popular open source softwares for quantum materials modeling and calculations at the nanoscale, and founding director of the Quantum ESPRESSO Foundation.
Stefano Baroni obtained a degree in Physics from the Università di Pisa (Italy) in 1978. After that, until 1984, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), in Switzerland. Later, he became Assistant Professor at the Department of Theoretical Physics at the Università degli Studi di Trieste until he joined SISSA in 1988. From 1994 to 1998, he was Director of CECAM, a European center for research in computational sciences and their applications, then based at the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, in France. Thereafter, until 2003, he served as coordinator in Trieste of the Istitituto Nazione per la Fisica della Materia (INFM). From 2001 to 2008, he was Founding Director of the DEMOCRITOS national simulation center, now part of the Italian CNR. Baroni has been a visiting professor at many institutions around the world, including Université Pierre et Marie Curie (France), Princeton University (USA), University of Minnesota (USA), University of Sydney (Australia), University College London (UK).
See our mini interview with Prof. Stefano Baroni.
B-MRS Newsletter: – We´d like to know more about your scientific work. Please choose one or two of your favorite/ high-impact contributions, briefly describe them, and share the references.
For forty years my research has been motivated by the attempt to solve the fundamental equations that determine the properties of materials at the atomic scale, in the most realistic conditions practically accessible to computational science. While this effort, which I shared with many scientists more talented than me around the world, is having a tremendous impact in many and diverse technologies, as this Conference convincingly witnesses, my own motivation has been, how to say?, a bit “swotty”? Theorists like me strive to understand. Geniuses sometimes understand what they cannot teach or do not care to implement. Ordinary swots have to do, implement, and teach in order to convince themselves they have understood, and this is what I have been doing all my life, like a Renaissance craftsman. I am probably mostly known for density functional perturbation theory [https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.73.515], a technique that Paolo Giannozzi and I introduced in the late 80s [https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.58.1861] and that is now considered the state of the art in the simulation of the vibrational properties of condensed matter. In the late 00s my colleagues and I generalised this technique to account for the dynamical phenomena that are probed in optical spectroscopies [https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.113001, https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2899649]. This work provided the methodological motivation for me to enter the field of molecular spectroscopy, which eventually led me to study the color of flowers and fruits. The challenge to compute what others believe cannot be computed was also the motivation for me to enter the fascinating field of heat and charge transport in condensed matter, a senile passion I will have the privilege to report on in Symposium S of this conference on September 24 at 9:30 [https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3509, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-15843-2, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-11572-4, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.255901, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-019-0562-0].
B-MRS Newsletter: – The subject of the talk aroused our curiosity. Could you tell us what led you to study these pigments? Does it have to do with industrial interest? With the search for fundamental answers? With the application of a new methodology?
As mentioned before, I was drawn to molecular spectroscopy while seeking useful applications for a new computational method that my collaborators and I had devised to deal with dynamical perturbations to quantum-mechanical systems. Ask around what would be the most important application of molecules absorbing light, and many would answer: “solar cells to produce clean, inexhaustible, energy”. So we went, and we were induced into the wrong thinking that efficient and inexpensive solar cells could be manufactured “using fruit juice” (i.e. using anthocyanins as the light-absorbing element of a photovoltaic device). It soon became clear that while the principle per se is not wrong (in fact, organic solar cells based on it are routinely assembled and used for educational purposes https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/uoh_organic_activity1, https://education.mrsec.wisc.edu/titanium-dioxide-raspberry-solar-cell/) the stability and efficiency of the resulting device are far too poor for industrial purposes. Meanwhile, our work attracted some attention, and I was invited to some important meetings on solar energy. On one occasion, I declined the invitation knowing that our work could not have a real impact in the field. The organisers flatteringly insisted, and I finally accepted under the condition that I would not talk of solar energy, but of the color of fruits and flowers, which had meanwhile started to arouse my curiosity. A few months later I was approached by a representative of a head-hunting company who, seeking an expert in the molecular simulation of natural dyes on behalf of a major multinational food manufacturer, had stumbled across the abstract of my talk. When I received the telephone call I thought it was a prank and I almost hung up on her. I resisted the impulse, and that was the beginning of an exciting five-years adventure in industrial research, which I never thought I would have lived and whose story I will tell in Balneário Camboriú …
For more information on this speaker and the plenary talk he will deliver at the XVIII B-MRS Meeting, click on the speaker’s photo and the title of the lecture here https://www.sbpmat.org.br/18encontro/#lectures.
Newsletter of the
Brazilian Materials
Research Society
Year 6, issue 8. September 9, 2019.
Featured Paper
Scientists from Brazil have discovered a potent anti-inflammatory effect on manganese-doped zinc germanate nanorods. In addition, the scientific team optimized the synthesis process of nanorods, reducing its duration to a few minutes. Nanostructures are promising for drug development. The work was recently published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry C. Know more.
From Idea to Innovation
Ready to launch nanotechnology-based cosmetics, Nanomed has been active since 2012 in the development of nano-scale technologies focused on the health and wellness segments (notably, nanocapsules that protect and deliver substances of interest). Learn more about Nanomed and its founder, here.
News from B-MRS Members
– B-MRS member Bartolomeu Cruz Viana Neto (UFPI) has just been certified as an affiliate member of a regional unit of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC). See ABC article about the researcher, here.
XVIII B-MRS Meeting/ Encontro da SBPMat
(Balneário Camboriú, Brazil, September 22 – 26, 2019)
Pre-event tutorial for participants. Professor Valtencir Zucolotto (USP) will offer the Young Researchers School: How to Produce and Publish High Impact Papers for the event participants, free of charge. The tutorial will take place on September 22 from 13:00 to 17:00 at Sibara Hotel.
Technical lectures. Within the program of the event, companies in the field of scientific instrumentation will offer 13 technical lectures, 20 minutes each, on techniques and equipment for characterization of materials. See schedule.
Program. The program of the event “at a glance” is online, showing technical and social activities and the distribution of oral and poster sessions. See here.Full program, with all presentations by symposium, is also online.See here.
Posters printing service. The poster file can be sent by email and later pick up the impression at the event location. Know more.
Venue. The meeting will be held in the delightful Balneário Camboriú at two hotels located 300 meters apart: Hotel Sibara Flat & Conventions and, for oral sessions of symposia K, M, S and U, the Mercure Camboriu Hotel. The venues are located in the center of the city, close to many hotels, restaurants and shops, and some meters from the sea. See map here.
Opening ceremony venue. The opening ceremony, the memorial lecture and the welcome cocktail will be held on September 22 (Sunday) at the Cristo Luz complex, one of the main tourist attractions in the city. There will be transportation to the venue, leaving the Hotel Sibara from 17:00 on. See Cristo Luz complex here.
Memorial Lecture. The traditional Memorial Lecture Joaquim da Costa Ribeiro will be given by Professor Yvonne Primerano Mascarenhas (IFSC – USP). Know more about the speaker,here.
Event party. The party will be held in the lounge of the Green Valley, a prominent nightclub. Learn more about Green Valley, here. The party will feature the striking Brothers band. Watch the Brothers, here. Tickets for the party are limited and will be sold at R$ 20 at the event secretariat from Monday on.
Host city. Balneário Camboriú (SC) is an important tourist destination that offers urban and wild beaches, ecotourism and adventure sports, boat trips, bicycles and cable cars – all within a unique landscape that combines mountains, sea and skyscrapers. The visitor has access to many options of gastronomy, lodging and shopping, as well as the bustling nightlife that stands out in the Brazilian scenario.
Lodging, tickets, transfers etc. Check the hotel options and the official travel agency of the event, here.
Plenary lectures. Leading scientists from institutions in Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States will deliver plenary talks on cutting-edge issues at the event. There will also be a plenary session by the Brazilian scientist Antônio José Roque da Silva, director of CNPEM and the Sirius project (new Synchrotron Light Lab). Learn more about the plenary sessions,here.
Symposia. 23 symposia proposed by the international scientific community compose this edition of the event. See the symposia list,here.
Organization. The chair of the event is Professor Ivan Helmuth Bechtold (Physics Department of UFSC) and the co-chair is Professor Hugo Gallardo (Department of Chemistry of UFSC). The program committee is formed by professors Iêda dos Santos (UFPB), José Antônio Eiras (UFSCar), Marta Rosso Dotto (UFSC) and Mônica Cotta (Unicamp). Get to know all the organizers, here.
Exhibitors and sponsors. 50 sponsors and supporters participate in the event with interesting activities and actions.
More details coming soon in B-MRS next newsletter and social media.
XIX B-MRS Meeting + IUMRS ICEM 2020
(Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, August 30 – September 3, 2020)
Joint event. The event will bring together the 19th edition of B-MRS’s annual meeting and the 17th edition of the International Conference on Electronic Materials organized every two years by the International Union of Materials Research Societies (IUMRS).
Call of symposia. B-MRS and IUMRS invite the international scientific community to submit symposium proposals by October 31, 2019. Learn more.
Organization. Professor Gustavo Martini Dalpian (UFABC) is the general coordinator, Carlos Cesar Bof Bufon (LNNANO) is the program coordinator and Flavio Leandro de Souza (UFABC) is the general secretary. At the international committee, the event features scientists from America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Learn more at the event website.
Plenaries. Five internationally prominent scientists have already confirmed their presence as speakers at the event. Learn more at the event website.
Exhibitors and sponsors. Companies and other entities interested in attending the event as exhibitors, sponsors or supporters can contact Alexandre through the e-mail comercial@sbpmat.org.br.
Reading Tips
– In celebration of the XVIII B-MRS Meeting, the Royal Society of Chemistry prepared a collection of articles by Brazilian authors published between 2017 and 2019. Learn more.
– Scientists make ferroelectric a paraelectric material for a few picoseconds by applying light pulses at THz frequencies, opening up possibilities for developing ultrafast reconfiguration devices (Science paper). Know more.
– OLEDs: Scientists innovate by combining thick layers of perovskites with organic films into material that can be used to develop new generation of screens and lamps (Nature paper). Know more.
– Scientists can make gold sheets only two atoms thick and show that they are catalysts ten times more efficient than nanoparticles. Synthesis method opens possibilities for 2D versions of other metals (Advanced Science paper). Know more. Know more.
– Researchers develop injectable liquid that turns into gel and can be used to make medical procedures such as polyp removal during colonoscopy easier and safer (Advanced Science paper). Know more.
– Scientists can flatten conjugated polymer molecules, which tend to bend, thereby increasing their ability to conduct electricity (Science Advances paper). Know more.
– Impact factors 2018: results from Royal Society of Chemistry journals. Know more.
– Research conducted by scientists from Brazil shows strong action against fungi and tumors of a material obtained by irradiation of silver tungstate (paper from Scientific Reports). Know more.
Opportunities
– Postdoctoral fellowship at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil). Know more.
Events
R2B Research to Business Itália-Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). September 19, 2019. Site.
XVIII B-MRS Meeting. Balneário Camboriú, SC (Brazil). September 22 – 26, 2019.Site.
XL CBRAVIC (Brazilian Congress on Vacuum Applications in Industry and Science). October7 – 11, 2019.Site.
2° Encontro – Fronteiras Tecnológicas em Engenharia. Lorena, SP (Brazil). October 9 – 10, 2019.Site.
XII Brazilian Symposium on Glass and Related Materials. Lavras, MG (Brazil). October 22 – 25, 2019.Site.
19th Brazilian Workshop on Semiconductor Physics. Fortaleza, CE (Brazil). November 18 – 22, 2019.Site.
XIX B-MRS Meeting and 2020 IUMRS ICEM (International Conference on Electronic Materials). Foz do Iguaçu, PR (Brazil). August 30 – September 3, 2020.Site.
Follow us on social media
You can suggest news, opportunities, events or reading tips in the materials field to be covered by B-MRS Newsletter. Write to comunicacao@sbpmat.org.br.
A mix of entrepreneurial spirit, born in childhood, and scientific training, developed in the university stage, led Brazilian Amanda Luizetto dos Santos to create Nanomed two years after completing her doctorate. “The foundation of Nanomed was a natural thing, I always wanted to undertake it, I just needed some time to mature the concept as I imagined,” Amanda states.
Early on in her childhood, Amanda used to set up a street stall to sell her drawings. “From an early age entrepreneurship aroused my heart,” she says. Time passed and pastimes became a life goal. At the end of her undergraduate years in Pharmacy, she participated in an initiative to train young entrepreneurs, in which she opened, maintained and closed (with a positive balance, she explains) a decorative candles company. “This experience was very enriching and, in fact, revived my interest in the world of entrepreneurship,” she recalls.
From her undergraduate degree, Amanda went straight to a doctorate in Analytical Chemistry, at the São Carlos Institute of Chemistry (USP), where she dealt with research in essential oils. The doctorate program included a scientific internship in the United States at Cleveland State University. Then, working closely with the cosmetics industry, Amanda noted this market’s demand for innovation and managed to design a first version of the company. “I found what I had been looking for since I was a young girl,” she says.
Located in São Carlos, in the state of São Paulo (Brazil), Nanomed is dedicated to developing and marketing innovative nanosystems, designed to solve specific challenges of the industry segments such as cosmetics, health and wellness. An example of Nanomed’s technology is nanocapsules that protect substances of interest (skin moisturizing molecules, medicine flavorings, insect repellents), transport them in minimal doses and deliver them to the desired location. Nanomed’s nanocapsules and other nanoparticles, Amanda emphasizes, undergo scientific evaluations to check for toxicity to living tissues and the environment.
In addition to developing nanosystems for other companies, the startup is building its product portfolio. The first products, two nanotechnology-based cosmetic lines, will enter the market (via e-commerce) soon. And between the end of this year and the beginning of next, new products of the food and sanitizing segments will be launched.
Nanomed was formally created in 2012 following the approval of a project in the PIPE program of the São Paulo Research Foundation (Fapesp). PIPE supports scientific and technological research in small companies in the state of São Paulo. Shortly after its creation, Nanomed was incubated in the São Carlos Technology Park (ParqTec), where it remained until 2017.
Since its inception, the startup has been dedicated to R&D of its technologies and products and, at the same time, has taken advantage of its ability to perform analysis and testing to provide services, especially to companies in the cosmetics and pharmaceutical segment. Thanks to the provision of services, Nanomed today is self-sustaining, states Amanda, who is the company’s CEO. “However, profit is still being reinvested,” she says.
For its R&D and service activities, Nanomed has equipment at the company’s headquarters, some of them acquired in projects supported by Fapesp and the Brazilian federal agencies Finep and CNPq. In addition, the startup hires specific assays at university labs and other partners.
Fifteen people currently work at Nanomed – partners, employees, fellows and consultants. Most of the team consists of masters and doctors with degrees in Pharmacy, Chemistry, Engineering and Physics, who work in product development and service provision. The startup also has professionals working in the legal and administrative areas.
Below is our interview with Amanda Luizetto dos Santos, founding partner and CEO of Nanomed.
Founding partner of Nanomed: Amanda Luizetto dos Santos.
B-MRS Newsletter: What were the most important factors that enabled the creation and development of the startup?
Amanda Luizetto dos Santos: The key factors that enabled Nanomed include the support of Fapesp and ParqTec. Since the beginning of Nanomed, Fapesp has been a fundamental pillar in technology and product developments by financing innovative and high risk projects. ParqTec, which is the oldest incubator in Latin America and is located in São Carlos, was very important because it allowed immersing in the environment of innovative entrepreneurship, as well as supporting the business construction.
B-MRS Newsletter: What were the most important moments for you in the history of the startup?
Amanda Luizetto dos Santos: The most important moment was participating in a meeting at Anvisa’s parliamentary meeting to defend a grade 2 cosmetic product developed by Nanomed and which will be launched and marketed later this year.
[Editor´s Note: Grade 2 products are toiletries or cosmetics whose characteristics require proof of safety and/or efficacy, as well as information on use mode and restrictions].
B-MRS Newsletter: What were the main difficulties the startup has faced thus far?
Amanda Luizetto dos Santos: The main difficulty, still encountered, is the slowness and regulatory bureaucracy that is related to the fact we work in the health area.
B-MRS Newsletter: What do you think is the main contribution of the startup to society?
Amanda Luizetto dos Santos: The main contribution is to offer safe and innovative products to society and contribute to the population’s quality of life.
B-MRS Newsletter: What is your goal/dream for the startup?
Amanda Luizetto dos Santos: Nanomed’s goal is to make people happy and satisfied by offering a line of innovative and high performance products in the domestic and international market.
B-MRS Newsletter: Leave a message to our newsletter readers and social media followers who are considering starting a startup.
Amanda Luizetto dos Santos: I believe we need to be realistic when we think about the future, especially when it comes to opening a business of our own. The idea that to undertake is to have no boss does not exist, in fact, you have thousands of bosses, such as client, employee, government, and many others. So, entrepreneurship means working hard and in all sectors of the business (all of them!). Creating a startup and keeping it alive requires a great deal of work (quite a lot), dedication, resilience and a cool head.
The universe of entrepreneurship is a constant adrenaline rush, particularly addictive, while it brings immense satisfaction to see things come to fruition, that cold feeling in the belly is inevitable. I can’t live without it (I still don’t know if fortunately or unfortunately!).
[Paper: Characterization of the structural, optical, photocatalytic and in vitro and in vivo anti-inflammatory properties of Mn2+ doped Zn2GeO4 nanorods. Suzuki, V. Y.; Amorin, L. H. C; Lima, N. M; Machado, E. G; Carvalho, P. E.; Castro, S. B. R.; Souza Alves, C. C.; Carli, A. P.; Li, Maximo Siu; Longo, Elson; Felipe La Porta. J. Mater. Chem. C, 2019, 7, 8216. DOI: 10.1039/c9tc01189g]
A team of researchers from Brazilian universities found, in cylindrical nanostructures known as nanorods, an anti-inflammatory effect equivalent to that achieved by commercial drugs. Researchers have also demonstrated the effectiveness of these nanorods as catalysts (accelerators) in the degradation of a pollutant. These applications are even more relevant considering that the scientific team was able to produce large quantities of the material through a simple and fast process. The work carried out shows the potential of these nanorods for the development of new medicines and for the treatment of effluents.
The work originated about three years ago when Professor Felipe de Almeida La Porta, who had recently joined the faculty of the Federal Technological University of Paraná (UTFPR), Londrina campus, was implementing a research group on nanotechnology and computational chemistry at this university. “Our laboratory was investigating some classes of emerging materials, with the perspective of aligning theory and practice, thus driving new discoveries and applications,” says La Porta. One of the materials studied by the group was zinc germanate (Zn2GeO4), a versatile semiconductor with well-known applications in sensors, catalysts, batteries and other devices.
Together with undergraduate researcher Victor Yuudi Suzuki, the professor started a project in which he synthesized pure Zn2GeO4 nanorods at the UTFPR laboratory with very small percentages of manganese ions. To produce this series of nanorods, they used “microwave assisted hydrothermal synthesis.” The method consists, in broad lines, of mixing aqueous solutions containing certain compounds, heating the final solution in a microwave oven and allowing the compounds to react for a certain period of time at controlled pressure and temperature. In this study, the manganese ion-doped Zn2GeO4 was prepared, and the reactions were performed at 140 °C for 10 minutes. The resulting material from these reactions was collected at room temperature, then washed and dried, which generate the nanorods.
Professor La Porta and his research group were able to optimize one of the process steps, the crystallization of materials, thus reducing the synthesis time from hours to a few minutes, but maintaining the quality of the material and the possibility to control its shape.
After preparing the samples, they traveled from Londrina (state of Paraná) to São Carlos (São Paulo state) to characterize the materials at the Center for Functional Materials Development (CDMF) at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) and at the Institute of Physics at the University of São Paulo (USP). Together with the local researchers, they were able to analyze the shape, structure and luminescence of the four types of nanorod compositions produced: manganese-free and with 1, 2 and 4% of this element incorporated into the structure of Zn2GeO4.
Finally, knowing that compounds containing zinc, germanium or manganese exhibit considerable effects on living things, the team contacted some collaborators to investigate these properties in the nanorods. Thus, several experiments were performed at the Departments of Chemistry and Pharmacy of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora and at the Federal University of Vales do Jequitinhonha and Mucuri, both in the state of Minas Gerais.
The authors of the paper. From the left: Victor Suzuki, Luís Amorin, Felipe La Porta, Maximo Si Li, Elson Longo, Sandra de Castro, Paloma de Carvalho, Alessandra Carli, Emanuelle Machado, Caio Alvez, Nerilson Lima.
To study the anti-inflammatory action, the team performed in vitro tests (in contact with cells in laboratory containers) and also in vivo tests (using rats with paw edema, within the norms of the Brazilian code for laboratory animal use). Both types of experiments revealed that nanorods with about 4% manganese were the most effective in controlling inflammation. The in vitro tests showed these nanostructures were able to modulate molecules that regulate inflammation without causing cell death (without cytotoxicity). In the in vivo experiments, the nanorods reduced the induced rat paw edema with results similar to that of the application of dexamethasone, a well-known drug of the corticoid group.
“At first, we thought that combining these elements to form a ternary oxide could somehow potentiate these effects. But we had no idea the results would be so significant. Given that the drugs currently available in therapy are proving to be less effective every day, these results may encourage the use of these nanorods, for example in the production of a new pharmaceutical formulation, especially for cases of inflammation,” says Felipe La Porta, who is the corresponding author of the paper that was recently published by the research team in the Journal of Materials Chemistry C (impact factor 6,641).
In addition to proving the potential of the material for this application in the health area, the authors of the paper have experimentally verified the ability of nanorods to degrade a chemical dye widely found in industrial effluents, known as methylene blue. For this application, 2% manganese nanostructures were the most efficient, completely decomposing the dye in 10 minutes. “Due to the manufacture simplicity of this system, coupled with its excellent properties, this material is also promising for cleaning various environmental pollutants, and can be easily recovered at the end of this process,” adds Prof La Porta.
In the center, a cluster of 4% manganese zinc germanate nanorods. Clockwise: photoluminescence measurements of the samples; representation of the structure of manganese-doped zinc germanate; pollutant degradation mechanism and methylene blue degradation measures; anti-inflammatory action of nanorods and other treatments in induced-edema rat paw.
The superior properties that the Brazilian scientific team found in the nanorods with manganese can be related to the structural defects observed in these samples. In fact, the three-dimensional network of atoms that forms zinc germanate is crystalline, that is, organized in regular patterns. The introduction of manganese generates irregularities, and new properties emerge.
The scientific paper that reports this work was selected to be part of the Materials and Nano Research in Brazil collection, prepared by the Royal Society of Chemistry in celebration of the 18th B-MRS Meeting, and can therefore be accessed free of charge until October 15 of this year, here.
The work was carried out with funding from Brazilian research support agencies: the federal CNPq and Capes, and the state Araucaria Foundation, Fapesp and Fapemig.
The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has prepared an online collection of articles by Brazilian authors in celebration of the XVIII B-MRS Meeting (Balneário Camboriú, September 22-26, 2019). The Royal Society of Chemistry is a supporter of this edition of B-MRS’s annual event.
Titled Materials and Nano Research in Brazil, the collection brings together 55 articles published in RSC journals between 2017 and 2019. All selected articles are open access until October 15, 2019.
Newsletter of the
Brazilian Materials
Research Society
Year 6, issue 7. August 7, 2019.
B-MRS Public Notice
The directory and board of the Brazilian Materials Research Society (B-MRS) are in solidarity with the Director of INPE, Prof. Ricardo Magnus Osório Galvão, with regard to the unsubstantiated claims by President Jair Bolsonaro (…)
– XIX B-MRS Meeting + IUMRS-ICEM 2020 (Iguassu Falls, Brazil, August 30 to September 3, 2020). The Brazilian Materials Research Society (B-MRS) and the International Union of Materials Research Societies (IUMRS) invite the international scientific community to submit symposium proposals for the joint event that will include B-MRS annual event and the IUMRS International Electronic Materials Conference. The symposium call is open until October 31, 2019.Learn more,here.
– Elections at B-MRS. The electoral commission has already approved the nominations. Get to know the candidates on the ticket for the Executive Board and the list of members who showed interest in being elected members of the Deliberative Council, here. Voting time will be from September 22 to October 4, 2019. Members with paid membership annuity will be able to vote online in their member areas on the B-MRS website or in person during the XVIII B-MRS Meeting, at the venue.
Featured Paper
A multidisciplinary scientific team developed in Brazilian laboratories a nanomaterial with interesting magnetic, luminescent and biochemical properties, and found its low toxicity in in vivo tests performed with zebrafish embryos. This nanomaterial can act as a nanoplatform for the development of healthcare, biotechnology and environmental applications. A paper about the work was recently published and featured on cover of ACS Applied Nano Materials. Know more.
Featured Scientist
We interviewed Professor Julia Greer of the California Institute of Technology (USA). Author of seminal contributions to nanomechanics, the scientist, who is also a pianist, currently develops innovative three-dimensional structures based on nanomaterials, and studies on how their superior properties arise from the interaction between atomic, nano and micro scales. At the XVIII B-MRS Meeting, she will give a talk about these interesting metamaterials. See our interview.
From Idea to Innovation
Innoma intends to spread innovation in the Brazilian industry. The startup develops technologies to produce high-efficiency nanoactives that can be used as raw materials by companies in various segments. The first product, an antimicrobial silver nanoactive, is already being marketed. Know more about Innoma here.
News from B-MRS Members
– Paper of B-MRS member Oswaldo Luiz Alves (IQ – Unicamp) is selected for collection of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Know more.
XVIII B-MRS Meeting
(Balneário Camboriú, Brazil, September 22 – 26, 2019)
Registration. Early registration (with special fees) was extended to August 9. Know more, here.
Program. The program of the event “at a glance” is online, showing technical and social activities and the distribution of oral and poster sessions. See here.
Posters printing service. The poster file can be sent by email and later pick up the impression at the event location. Know more, here.
Venue. The meeting will be held in the delightful Balneário Camboriú at the Hotel Sibara Flat & Conventions, located in the center of the city, close to many hotels, restaurants and shops, and only 100 meters from the sea. More information, here.
Opening ceremony venue. The opening ceremony, the memorial lecture and the welcome cocktail will be held on September 22 (Sunday) at the Cristo Luz complex, one of the main tourist attractions in the city. There will be transportation to the venue, leaving the Hotel Sibara from 17:00 on. Know more about this place, here.
Memorial Lecture. The traditional Memorial Lecture Joaquim da Costa Ribeiro will be given by Professor Yvonne Primerano Mascarenhas (IFSC – USP). Know more about the speaker, here.
Event party. The party will be held in the lounge of the Green Valley, a prominent nightclub. Learn more about Green Valley, here. The party will feature the striking Brothers band. Watch the Brothers, here.
Host city. Balneário Camboriú (SC) is an important tourist destination that offers urban and wild beaches, ecotourism and adventure sports, boat trips, bicycles and cable cars – all within a unique landscape that combines mountains, sea and skyscrapers. The visitor has access to many options of gastronomy, lodging and shopping, as well as the bustling nightlife that stands out in the Brazilian scenario.
Lodging, tickets, transfers etc. Check the hotel options and the official travel agency of the event, here.
Plenary lectures. Leading scientists from institutions in Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States will deliver plenary talks on cutting-edge issues at the event. There will also be a plenary session by the Brazilian scientist Antônio José Roque da Silva, director of CNPEM and the Sirius project (new Synchrotron Light Lab). Learn more about the plenary sessions, here.
Symposia. 23 symposia proposed by the international scientific community compose this edition of the event. See the symposia list, here.
Organization. The chair of the event is Professor Ivan Helmuth Bechtold (Physics Department of UFSC) and the co-chair is Professor Hugo Gallardo (Department of Chemistry of UFSC). The program committee is formed by professors Iêda dos Santos (UFPB), José Antônio Eiras (UFSCar), Marta Rosso Dotto (UFSC) and Mônica Cotta (Unicamp). Get to know all the organizers, here.
Exhibitors and sponsors. 41 companies have already confirmed their participation in the event. Those interested in sponsoring/support can contact Alexandre at the e-mail comercial@sbpmat.org.br.
Reading Tips
– 2018 Impact factors: results from ACS Publications journals. Know more.
– Optical computing: metamaterial solves equation by processing optical signals (Science paper). Know more.
– Scientists from Brazil develop tumor cell membrane nanocapsules that carry drugs across the body and release them into tumors to fight cancer by combining hyperthermia and chemotherapy (paper from Applied Bio Materials). Know more.
Events
20th International Sol-Gel Conference. Saint Petersburg (Russia). August 25 – 30, 2019. Site.
2nd CINE-M2P workshop. São Paulo, SP (Brazil). August 26 – 27, 2019. Site.
V Reunião Anual sobre Argilas Aplicadas. Franca, SP (Brazil). August 28 – 30, 2019. Site.
21st Materials Research Society of Serbia Annual Conference (YUCOMAT 2019) and 11th IISS World Round Table Conference on Sintering (WRTCS 2019). Herceg Novi (Montenegro). September 2 – 6, 2019. Site.
R2B Research to Business Itália-Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). September 19, 2019. Site.
XVIII B-MRS Meeting. Balneário Camboriú, SC (Brazil). September 22 – 26, 2019.Site.
XL CBRAVIC (Brazilian Congress on Vacuum Applications in Industry and Science). October, 7 – 11, 2019.Site.
XII Brazilian Symposium on Glass and Related Materials. Lavras, MG (Brazil). October 22 – 25, 2019.Site.
19th Brazilian Workshop on Semiconductor Physics. Fortaleza, CE (Brazil). November 18 – 22, 2019.Site.
XIX B-MRS Meeting e 2020 IUMRS ICEM (International Conference on Electronic Materials). Foz do Iguaçu, PR (Brazil). August 30 -September 3, 2020.Site.
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You can suggest news, opportunities, events or reading tips in the materials field to be covered by B-MRS Newsletter. Write to comunicacao@sbpmat.org.br.
Cover of ACS Applied Nano Materials features the paper.
In research carried out in a number of Brazilian laboratories, a multidisciplinary scientific team developed a magnetic, luminescent nanomaterial capable of chemically binding to molecules of interest, such as drugs or proteins. This nanomaterial also showed low toxicity in tests with living organisms. With this set of characteristics, the new material can be seen as a multifunctional nanoplatform that is promising for the development of various applications, especially in the areas of biotechnology, health and environment. The study was reported in an article published in ACS Applied Nano Materials (American Chemical Society journal released in 2018), and featured on the cover of the June issue of the journal.
The properties of this nanoplatform derive from the presence of several compounds and elements with distinct properties: iron oxide (Fe3O4, known as magnetite) nanoparticles responsible for magnetism; lanthanide element ions (Gd3 +, Ce3 + and Tb3 +, known as rare earths) responsible for luminescence or light emission, and chitosan (biopolymer obtained from the crustacean exoskeleton), essential for providing chemical bonds of the nanoplatform surface to the external molecules of interest.
The nanoplatform was developed at the Brazilian National Nanotechnology Laboratory of the National Center for Energy and Materials Research (LNNano – CNPEM). The process used for its synthesis comprises a series of steps. Initially, the iron oxide nanoparticles that form the core of the nanoplatforms are synthesized and coated with silicon dioxide (SiO2). Then the luminescent elements and chitosan are incorporated into the nanoparticles forming an outer layer. The result is nanoplatforms of approximately 170 nm in diameter (on average), called Fe3O4@SiO2/GdOF:xCe3+,yTb3+.
On the left, a schematic illustration of one of the nanoplatforms, showing its core. On the right, a solution with nanoplatforms under the effect of a magnetic field (concentrated near the magnets) and irradiated with UV light (generating the emission of green light).
To study the magnetic and luminescent properties of the nanoplatform and to characterize its structure and morphology, research groups from the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) and the University of São Paulo (USP) participated in the study.
In addition, the main authors of the paper decided to evaluate the toxicity of nanoplatforms with relation to living organisms – a key step when thinking about health or environmental applications, and they decided to conduct a well-established in vivo test, in which zebrafish embryos (scientific name Danio rerio) are exposed to the material whose toxicity is to be evaluated. These freshwater fish, in fact, has a high genetic similarity to humans (about 70%) and at the same time is cheaper and easier to study than mice or rats, among other advantages.
In the toxicity test, a few dozen freshly fertilized zebrafish eggs were placed in aqueous medium containing the nanoplatforms at various concentrations. The embryos were examined at different development stages using an optical microscope to check for mortality, malformation, edema or changes in size. Tests included embryos with and without chorion (membrane that protects the embryo in the early stages of development). The test results carried out at LNNano showed that nanoplatforms, even at high concentrations (100 mg/L), have low toxicity for all embryo groups.
Zebrafish embryos used in nanotoxicity tests. (A) 24-hour embryos in the presence and absence of the chorion, where arrows indicate the chorion (membrane that protects embryos in the early stages of development). (B) Embryos after 96 hours of development.
“This work brings an unprecedented contribution that involves evaluating the toxicity of hybrid nanomaterials using the zebrafish model, a promising alternative method in nanotoxicology, and the influence of the chorion,” says Diego Stéfani Teodoro Martinez, CNPEM researcher at LNNano and one of the corresponding authors of the article.
The embryos were also analyzed at the Brazilian National Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS – CNPEM) to verify the distribution and concentration of nanoplatforms in the organism of the embryos. To do this, the scientists used the synchrotron light X-ray fluorescence microscopy (SXRF) technique, which can accurately map certain chemical elements in biological systems. This technique is available at one of the LNLS experimental stations, coordinated by the researcher Carlos Alberto Pérez, who is one of the corresponding authors of the article.
X-ray fluorescence microscopy analysis with synchrotron light (SXRF) of two zebrafish embryos after exposure to the nanoplatform for 72 hours. (A) Optical microscopy image of the embryos; (B) SXRF image of embryos demonstrating nanoplatform accumulation in the intestinal tract; and (C) X-ray fluorescence intensity along the white line indicated in (B), demonstrating the spatial co-location of Fe and Gd elements in the intestinal tract of zebrafish embryos.
SXRF analysis showed that nanoplatforms had accumulated in the embryos as a function of exposure time, with higher concentrations in the gastrointestinal tract in the case of already developed mouth embryos – a result that may be significant, for example in the context of healthcare applications involving oral nanoplatform ingestion.
The study was carried out in the context of a postdoctoral project by fellow Latif Ullah Khan, also corresponding author of the article. The completion of the project, says Martinez, was made possible by the availability of skills and facilities at CNPEM’s multi-user laboratories. However, partnerships with other laboratories were also crucial, adds the CNPEM researcher. Professor Marcelo Knobel’s group performed the magnetometry studies at Unicamp. The groups of professors Hermi Felinto Brito and Magnus Gidlund carried out the luminescence and functionalization studies at USP. Finally, Professor Diego Muraca (Unicamp) and researcher Jefferson Bettini (CNPEM) contributed to the structural and morphological characterization using transmission electron microscopy techniques.
“This article was the result of integrating the experience of different Brazilian groups; an interdisciplinary study on the frontier of knowledge in nanobiotechnology and nanotoxicology,” says Martinez, adding that one of the main challenges of the work was integrating knowledge and techniques from different areas, such as Materials, Biology and Toxicology, a task that was coordinated by Martinez and Pérez.
The main authors of the paper. From the left: Latif Khan, Carlos Pérez and Diego Stéfani Martinez.
The study received financial support from Brazilian agencies CAPES (including through the CAPES-CNPEM agreement), FAPESP and CNPq (including through INCT-Inomat); from the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications (MCTIC) through SisNANO, and The World Academy of Sciences for advancement of science in developing countries (TWAS). The study also received financial support from the Brazil-China Nanotechnology Research and Innovation Center (CBC-Nano).
Applications: biotechnology, health and the environment
According to Martínez, the nanoplatform developed opens perspectives for applications in biotechnology, health and the environment, such as biological tissue and cell imaging systems, medical diagnostic kits, and environmental systems for pollutant detection and remediation
The applications would take advantage of the interesting set of nanoplatform properties. Because they are magnetic, using an external magnet, nanoplatforms could be directed and retained in a particular biological tissue or isolated from, for example, contaminated blood or water. In addition, the luminescence of the nanomaterial would allow visualizing the nanoplatforms within the biological tissues and cells of interest. Finally, the presence of chitosan would enable the chemical binding of drugs and other molecules that would serve for the diagnosis and/or treatment of diseases. “However, much study is still needed for real applications and commercialization of this nanoplatform, as it is a new material and needs to be tested on different models in the future,” says Martinez Martinez.
[Paper: Fe3O4@SiO2 Nanoparticles Concurrently Coated with Chitosan and GdOF:Ce3+,Tb3+ Luminophore for Bioimaging: Toxicity Evaluation in the Zebrafish Model. Latif U. Khan, Gabriela H. da Silva, Aline M. Z. de Medeiros, Zahid U. Khan, Magnus Gidlund, Hermi F. Brito, Oscar Moscoso-Londoño, Diego Muraca, Marcelo Knobel, Carlos A. Pérez, Diego Stéfani T. Martinez. ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 2019, 2,6, 3414-3425. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.9b00339.]
As if she were an architect of the nanoscale, Prof. Julia R. Greer, together with her research group at Caltech (California Institute of Technology) creates three-dimensional structures based on innovatively engineered nanomaterials. The result are metamaterials (artificial materials in which properties depend not only on chemical composition but also on the specific arrangements of nano-sized components into an architected structure) with superior properties. For example, structures with simultaneous extreme lightness and strength or thermal conductivity. Professor Greer and her group develop methods to create such 3D nano-architected materials using an approach called additive manufacturing, and to understand how these properties are generated as a result of multi-scale interactions: atomic, nano and micro scales.
Julia Rosolovsky Greer was born in Moscow (Russia). She began her musical education at the age of 6 and started attending the renowned Gnessin School of Music in Moscow in 5th grade; concurrently in 7th grade she transferred to a Math high school, which in a way served as a foreshadow of her “double-career” as a scientist and a pianist. At 16, she moved with her family to the United States, where she studied and works in three of the top five universities in the world according to the rankings available. For her undergraduate studies she attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she obtained in 1997 her major in Chemical Engineering and a minor in Advanced Music Performance. After that, Greer was accepted at Stanford University to undertake graduate studies in Materials Science and Engineering. In 2000, she obtained a M.S. degree, but was discouraged by her at-the-time-supervisor to follow a scientific career. After working for a few years at Intel, Greer decided to return to Stanford to get a Ph.D. Working under the guidance of materials scientist Prof. William D. Nix, who she considers an incredible mentor, Julia made a seminal contribution to nanomechanics and obtained her Ph.D. degree in 2005. After that, she was a postdoctoral fellow at PARC until she joined the faculty of Caltech in 2007, where she is currently a Ruben F. and Donna Mettler Professor of Materials Science, Mechanics, and Medical Engineering.
Professor Greer has an h-index of 56 and over 13,000 citations, according to Google Scholar. She has received a couple of dozen distinctions from scientific institutions, journals and media, and has given more than 100 invited lectures, including named lectures, at scientific events, universities, World Economic Forums and TEDx events. Greer serves as an associate editor for Nano Letters and Extreme Mechanics Letters.
This scientist and concert pianist will be in September in Balneário Camboriú (Brazil), giving a plenary lecture at the XVIII B-MRS Meeting.
See our mini interview with Professor Julia Greer.
B-MRS Newsletter: – In your PhD research, you developed an innovative method to measure mechanical properties of materials at the nanoscale and with it you have made an amazing discovery, right? We would like you to tell us, as briefly as possible, the history of this work, its results and its impact.
When I first arrived at Stanford to start my Ph.D. research with the amazing mentor, Professor W.D. Nix, he vaguely suggested that I should learn how to make small things to test mechanically and see if I could figured out how to use the new-at-the-time instrument, the Focused Ion Beam (FIB). Having worked at Intel for a couple of years, I had learned to do what the Boss tells you to do, so I had learned a very new at the time technique that carves nano-sized shapes by etching the parent material with Ga+ ions. Soon, I had become quite proficient at making nano-cylinders, whose diameters ranged from 1/10,000th of your hair diameter to something like half a thickness of a sheet of paper. I then figured out how to compress them using an instrument called nanoindenter to assess their strength and modulus, and we discovered that as we made those pillars smaller, i.e. reducing the diameter from several microns to a few hundred nanometers, resulted in much higher stresses, i.e. they were able to exhibit much greater strengths. I spent the rest of my 3-year Ph.D. trying to figure out how and why that happened. Together with Prof. Nix, we stumbled upon a pretty impactful finding that smaller was, in fact, stronger, because of the specific behavior and interactions of defects called dislocations within very small, nano- and micro-sized volumes. We did all this work on single crystals of gold, i.e. a relatively malleable metal at the macroscale, whose properties are well understood. When its dimensions were reduced to ~200 nm, it became as strong as steel, exhibiting compressive (and we showed later, tensile, too) stresses close to 800 MPa or even higher; for comparison, the bulk strength of gold is roughly 25 MPa, so it’s 50 times higher! Since then many other research groups have confirmed this type of size effect in many different metals, using different experimental and computational techniques and materials, so it had turned out to be not only a reproducible but seemingly ubiquitous size effect in many different material systems. It has significant implications for how to properly understand material behavior at the nano- and microscale.
B-MRS Newsletter: – In your plenary talk at the B-MRS Meeting, you will talk about three-dimensional nano-architected meta-materials. Could you please choose one of your favorite metamaterials, briefly describe how it is made and mention its (possible) applications?
Well, our meta-materials are like children, I don’t really have a favorite one. What I will do is describe how we usually make these materials, what are their solid constituents – they are all so different: metals, semiconductors, polymers, carbon, ceramics, etc. – and what kind of properties they exhibit. I will describe quite a bit of chemical synthesis, mechanical properties, and show (hopefully 😉 ) interesting visual examples of their response to various stimuli. I am looking forward to the conference!
For more information on this speaker and the plenary talk she will deliver at the XVIII B-MRS Meeting, click on the speaker’s photo and the title of the lecture here https://www.sbpmat.org.br/18encontro/#lectures.
Due to the high participation in the XVIII B-MRS meeting (Balneário Camboriú, September 22 to 26), and to ensure everyone’s comfort, the sessions and activities will take place in two hotels, 300 meters apart: Hotal Sibara Flat & Conventions and Mercure Camboriu Hotel. Both venues are located in the center of the city, close to many hotels, restaurants and shops, and some meters from the sea.
A mix of entrepreneurial spirit, born in childhood, and scientific training, developed in the university stage, led Brazilian Amanda Luizetto dos Santos to create 
A team of researchers from Brazilian universities found, in cylindrical nanostructures known as nanorods, an anti-inflammatory effect equivalent to that achieved by commercial drugs. Researchers have also demonstrated the effectiveness of these nanorods as catalysts (accelerators) in the degradation of a pollutant. These applications are even more relevant considering that the scientific team was able to produce large quantities of the material through a simple and fast process. The work carried out shows the potential of these nanorods for the development of new medicines and for the treatment of effluents.
The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has prepared an online collection of articles by Brazilian authors in celebration of the 
