Irene VASSALINI (born on 13/06/1989) graduated in Chemistry with full grades cum laude at the University of Pavia in 2013 and obtained a PhD degree in Industrial and Mechanical Engineering in 2017 at the University of Brescia, with a PhD thesis about “Novel strategies for Smart materials”. During her PhD, she spent one month at the Centre of Nanophase Material Science, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennesse (USA).
From January 2017 to December 2020 she was a post-doc research fellow at the Chemistry for Technologies Laboratory of University of Brescia and now she is a RTD-A researcher at the Department of Information Engineering of University of Brescia.
She is a member of the INSTM Unit of Brescia and she is affiliated to the CNR-INO Unit of Brescia. She is a member of the Sustainable Chemistry and Materials Group of University of Brescia, focused on the “green” synthesis and characterization of new materials for energy conversion and advanced diagnostics.
Her main research interests deal with the preparation of stimuli-responsive smart materials following unconventional routes, the synthesis of nanomaterials and their characterization, and Raman Spectroscopy (in particular, plasmonic and non-plasmonic Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy). She is involved in the development of optical antennas and sensors, photo-catalysts and systems for the detection and removal of pollutants.
From 2017 to 2020 she has been teaching Assistant for the course “Elements of Chemistry” at the Department of Information Engineering of University of Brescia. From 2021 she is responsible for the courses “Practical Chemistry for Nanotechnology” (Department of Information Engineering of University of Brescia) and “Chemistry for Sustainable Energy” (Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering of University of Brescia)