Role
Full Professor of Physical Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Bari Aldo Moro and associate researcher at the CNR-IPCF (Institute for Chemical-Physical Processes).
Bio
Maria Lucia Curri, after graduating in Chemistry in 1993, earned a PhD in Chemical Sciences in 1997, also from the University of Bari. Between 1995 and 1996, she was a Research Assistant at University College London, and since 1996, she has been working at the National Research Council (CNR). Since 2010, she has been a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Chemical-Physical Processes, and since 2018, she has been a Full Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Bari Aldo Moro.
His research focuses on the design, synthesis, and functionalization of inorganic and hybrid nanomaterials, particularly nanoparticles and nanocrystals obtained through colloidal chemistry. He studies the control of size, shape, composition, crystalline structure, and surface properties, structure-property relationships, and surface and interface engineering. He also focuses on the organization of nanomaterials into heterostructures and nanocomposites. Applications include photocatalysis and pollutant abatement, water purification, energy conversion and storage, photoactivated green hydrogen production, environmental sensing, photovoltaics, plasmonics, optoelectronics, and nanomedicine.
She coordinated the European FP7 LIMPID project on nanocomposites for the photocatalytic degradation of pollutants and was principal investigator of numerous national and European projects, including SPARKLE, SOLE-H2 and the Horizon Europe Doctoral Network MSCA AMORE.
She is the author of over 240 scientific publications. She carries out evaluation activities for the European Commission and national and international research agencies; she was Chair of the ERC Consolidator Grant PE5 panel in 2020 and 2022. She is Vice-President of INSTM, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, an Associate Editor of Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Physical Chemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society.