Professor

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Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

1996: PhD in Chemical Engineering, Univ. of Patras, Greece
1990: B.S. Physics, Univ. of Patras, Greece

PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT

04/2023 – currently: Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Patras

12/2016 – 03/2023: Research Director, FORTH/ICE-HT, Greece
01/2005 – 11/2016: Principal Researcher, ICE/HT-FORTH, Greece
11/2001 – 12/2004: Associate Researcher, ICE/HT-FORTH, Greece
03/1999 – 10/2001: Assistant Researcher, ICE/HT-FORTH, Greece
11/1996 – 06/1997: Post-Doctoral Fellow, ICE/HT-FORTH, Greece

SYNOPTIC PUBLICATION RECORD

• Scientific articles in peer-reviewed journal (ISI): 158

h index: 35 (WoS), 36 (Scopus), 39 (Google Scholar)

      (4 articles in Nature Publishing House Journals, #50; #84; #102, #155)

• Invited chapters in international books: 5
• Articles and reviews in international books: 11
• Papers in peer-reviewed international conference proceedings: 13
• Invited talks at International Conferences, Symposia, and Workshops: 32

PATENTS

• 2 PCT patent applications
• 1 patent in the Hellenic Industrial Property Organisation

PROFESSIONAL AND RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

• Department of Physics, University Paris IV, 4 months, September–December 1995
• Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany, October 1999 and April 2000
• Centre de Recherches sur les Materiaux a Haute Temperature, (CRMHT/CNRS), Orleans, France, January 2000
• European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) Grenoble, France, (March 2002; March 2004; March 2005, July 2006)
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Tennessee, USA, May 2002
• Research Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary, May 2005
• Physics Department, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy, September–October 2005
• Physics Department, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy, June 2006 and November 2008
• LENS, Florence Italy, September 2006
• Department of General and Inorganic Chemistry, University of Pardubice, Czech Republic, Several visits since 2004

PARTICIPATION IN RESEARCH PROJECTS

Participation as PI and principal researcher in more than 30 European, international and nationally funded R&D projects and several Bilateral Collaborations.

PRESENTATIONS AT CONFERENCES

More than 120 Poster Presentations in international conferences; 35 Invited Oral Presentations.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• 1994-today: Member of the American Physical Society
• 2003-today: Member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
• 2004-today: Member of the Optical Society of America
• 1999-today: Member of the Hellenic Researchers Society (ΕΕE)

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Courses

 

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Research Activities

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Structure/Dynamics/Properties/Applications of Hard and Soft Condensed Matter

Hard Condensed Matter

• Nanomaterials – Nanoscience – Nanotechnology
  • Fabrication of high-quality graphene-based hybrid nanomaterials from inorganic (metal carbides) and organic (polymers and biomass-based raw materials) compounds at ambient conditions, using novel laser-assisted methodologies:
    • Epitaxial graphene growth on SiC wafers
    • Graphene-coated nanocomposites, namely, SiC and other metal carbide particles at the micro- and nano-scale.
    • R2R-compatible laser-assisted in-situ GO reduction on textiles/flexible substrates
    • Laser-scribed-graphene electrodes for energy harvesting (triboelectric nanogenerators for batteryless flexible electronics), and electrochemical energy storage devices (flexible microcapacitors).
  • Developing rational bottom-up synthetic routes (wet chemistry and CVD) for the controlled growth of 1-D nanostructures based mainly on ZnO and more complex heterostructures i.e. metal oxide-core/metal chalcogenide-sheath nanowires:
    • Energy conversion: optimizing the anode and cathode active materials for dye-sensitized solar cells; improving the anode nanostructures of photo-electrochemical devices for H₂ evolution
    • Photocatalytic applications: defect and morphology engineering of nanocrystals for waste-water treatment; advancing immobilized photocatalysts for large-scale reactors
    • Gas sensors: synthesis of heterostructures of nanostructures with various morphologies to achieve high sensitivity/selectivity and device operation at room temperature for dangerous gasses, such as CO
    • Nanophotonics: optimizing the morphology of nanowire arrays for realizing SERS substrates; control luminesce properties; antireflection performance.
  • CVD and PVD growth of 2-D few-layer transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDCh) crystals
    • Direct PVD growth of 2-D TMDCh crystals on TM foils for catalytic applications (counter electrodes of DSSCs)
    • CVD growth of vertical heterostructures (alternating stacks of different 2-D materials with improved electrical and optical properties)
    • Combinatorial growth of 1-D and 2-D materials in core-sheath structures for visible light photo-electrochemical cells (water splitting)
    • Nanoscale engineering 2-D crystals for tribological applications
  • Structure and dynamics of the fluids and crystals confined in nanopores
  • Fabrication and characterization of low-dimensional nanoparticles by laser ablation

• Glasses and Glass transition
  • Studies of structure and dynamics of a wide range of non-crystalline solids
    A host of experimental techniques (all kinds of light scattering; synchrotron radiation, surface sensitive techniques) are employed, including structural probes and optical spectroscopies to study dynamics and collective phenomena in glasses, supercooled liquids and melts of halide, oxide, and chalcogenide glasses (fragility, Boson peak, quasi–elastic scattering, vibrational relaxation, pressure induced changes in glasses, Raman amplifiers, bioactive glasses, etc.)
• Photoinduced phenomena in amorphous semiconductors
  A number of photoinduced structural changes in chalcogenide materials are explored using structure-probing techniques to better understand chalcogenide glasses (athermal photoplastic phenomena, athermal reversible photo-crystallization, phase-change materials).

Soft Condensed Matter

• Biological materials: dynamic light scattering methodologies for early diagnosis of eye diseases, light scattering from eye lens and crystalline (protein) solutions/gels, protein aggregation, cold cataract.
• Thermo-reversible aggregation phenomena: living polymerization in elemental chalcogens, rounding effects in second-order-type phase transitions.
• Sol-gel transition dynamics: self-assembly of silica-based solutions towards the development novel ceramics for bio-interface engineering.

Development of new techniques

• In collaboration with T. Scopigno (Rome, La Sapienza) have demonstrated the construction and feasibility of a laboratory prototype for infra-red photon correlation technique using a laser emitting at 1064 nm. The technique gave satisfactory results in densely colored samples (chalcogenides), while it has prospects to be upgraded and used for particle sizing in opaque suspensions of agglomerated engineered nanoparticles of industrial interest.
• Have established a non-invasive methodology, based on Dynamic Light Scattering, for non-invasive and reliable early diagnosis of eye diseases, e.g. lens cataract (research activity funded through the project title: Light scattering methodologies for non-invasive early diagnosis of ocular diseases).
• Have participated in research activities (Project title: Early Diagnosis: New Diagnostic Equipment for Biomedical Applications, 1994-1997) for the development of a biomedical instrument capable of accurately determining the size and the shape of non-spherical particles with applications to the deformability of red-blood cells.

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Representative Publications

• Samartzis, K. Bhorkar, M. Athanasiou, V. Dracopoulos, T. Ioannides and S. N. Yannopoulos, “Direct laser-assisted fabrication of turbostratic graphene electrodes: Comparing symmetric and zinc-ion hybrid supercapacitors”, Carbon 201, 9411–951 (2023).
• Bhorkar, L. Sygellou, M. Cathelinaud, D. Ren, J.-L. Adam, and S. N. Yannopoulos, “Band alignment and optical properties of 1D/2D Sb₂Se₃/PtSe₂ heterojunctions”, ACS Appl. Electr. Mat. 4, 4814-4822 (2022). The article cover art has been selected as a Front Cover for the issue of ACS Applied Electronic Materials.
• Bhorkar, N. Samartzis, M. Athanasiou, L. Sygellou, N. Boukos, V. Dracopoulos, T. Ioannides, and S. N. Yannopoulos, “Laser-mediated Explosive Synthesis and Transfer of Graphene and Graphene nanohybrids: Direct Preparation of Electrodes for Energy Conversion Applications”, npj 2D Materials and Applications 6, Article number: 56 (2022).
• Athanasiou, S. N. Yannopoulos, Th. Ioannides, “Biomass-derived graphene-like materials as active electrodes for supercapacitor applications: A critical review”, Chem. Eng. J. 446, 137191 (1–8) (2022).
• Syrrokostas, G. Leftheriotis, S. N. Yannopoulos, “Lessons learned from 25 years of development of photoelectrochromic devices: A technical review”, Renew. Sustain. Energy Reviews, 162 112462 (1–20) (2022).
• Athanasiou, N. Samartzis, L. Sygellou, V. Dracopoulos, Th. Ioannides, and S. N. Yannopoulos “Laser-assisted growth of high-quality graphene-like structures from raisins biomass”, Carbon 172, 750-761 (2021).
• Syrrokostas, A. Dokouzis, S. N. Yannopoulos, G. Leftheriotis, “Novel Photoelectrochromic Devices Incorporating Carbon-Based Perovskite Solar Cells”, Nano Energy 77, 105243 (1-10) (2020).
• Domi, K. Bhorkar, C. Rumbo, L. Sygellou, S. N. Yannopoulos, R. Quesada, J. A. Tamayo-Ramos, “Fate assessment of commercial 2D MoS2 aqueous dispersions at physicochemical and toxicological level”, Nanotechnology 31, 445101 (2020).
• Cazzato, A. Chrissanthopoulos, M. Micoulaut, T. Scopigno, S. N. Yannopoulos, “Complex dynamics in nanoscale phase separated supercooled liquids”, Phys. Rev. Res. 2, 032007(R) (2020), Rapid Communication.
• N. Yannopoulos, “Structure and photoinduced effects in elemental chalcogens: a review on Raman scattering”, J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 31, 7565-7595 (2020).