INSTM (National Interuniversity Consortium of Materials Science and Technology) is the largest consortium of its kind in Italy, drawing on the expertise of 50 universities and all those who operate in Italy in research on advanced materials and technologies. About 2000 professors, researchers, post-docs and PhD students are associated to INSTM and the number thereof is continuously increasing. In DAM4CO₂ the INSTM consortium gather the competences of Dr. Valentina Crocellà, Dr. Matteo Signorile, Prof. Silvia Bordiga at the Department of Chemistry (University of Torino), of Prof. Marco Taddei and Prof. Marco Lessi at the Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry (University of Pisa) and of Prof. Ferdinando Costantino and Prof. Luigi Vaccaro at the Department of Chemistry, Biology and Biotechnology (University of Perugia). The expertise of the research unit ranges from the synthesis of materials for carbon dioxide capture to the characterization of adsorbents and catalysts, including the application of advanced methods to disclose the finest structural details and the functional behavior of the investigated samples.
Matteo Bartalucci, was awarded the PhD in Chemical Sciences with excellence in April 2024 from the University of Perugia, working on the design and synthesis of PROTACs aiming to explore and expand the toolbox of hijackable E3 ligases for TPD. Since April 2024, he has been involved as a Junior Researcher in the European project “Double Active Membranes for a sustainable CO₂ cycle” (DAM4CO₂), under the supervision of Prof. Luigi Vaccaro. His current research interest concerns the development of novel catalyzed processes in flow using solid catalysts.
Dr. Giulio Bresciani received his Master’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Pisa in 2015. In 2016, he was admitted to the Doctoral School in Chemistry and Material Science at the same university. During his PhD, he spent six months as an exchange student in Prof. Timo Repo's group at the University of Helsinki. He completed his PhD in 2020 under the supervision of Prof. Guido Pampaloni, focusing on the synthesis of novel metal carbamates and their catalytic applications in CO₂ activation. Dr. Bresciani worked for 18 months on the "doMino" project (PRIN2020) as a research fellow. Since May 2024, he has been part of the European project "Double Active Membranes for a Sustainable CO₂ Cycle" (DAM4CO₂), under the supervision of Prof. Marco Taddei and Prof. Marco Lessi. His research interests center on the synthesis and characterization of metalorganic frameworks (MOFs), with a particular focus on X-ray diffraction techniques.
Dr. Margherita Cavallo received his Master’s degree in Materials Science from the University of Torino in 2020. In 2021, she joined the Doctoral School in Chemistry and Material Science at the same institution. She defended her PhD thesis titled "Exploring innovative materials for carbon dioxide capture and valorisation" in February 2025. Since 2020, her research has focused on the advanced characterization of materials for Carbon Dioxide Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS). Her expertise includes the physical-chemical characterization of adsorbents and catalysts using techniques such as transmission IR, ATR, DRIFT, Raman, DR-UV-Vis spectroscopies, volumetry, microcalorimetry, XRD, and TGA. She has participated in two funded research projects: “SATURNO” (Scarti organici e Anidride carbonica Trasformati in carbURanti,fertilizzanti e prodotti chimici; applicazione concreta dell’ecoNOmia circolare), a regional Europeanfunded project, and “4AirCRAFT” (Air Carbon Recycling for Aviation Fuel Technology) funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. Since November 2024, she has been involved in the European project DAM4CO₂"Double Active Membranes for a Sustainable CO₂ Cycle", under the supervision of Dr. Matteo Signorile and Prof. Valentina Crocellà.
Francesco Della Croce, graduated cum laude in Chemistry at University of Pisa in January 2024 under the supervision of Prof. Marco Taddei. Starting from February 2024, he took on a role as a Junior 1 Researcher in the European project “Double Active Membranes for a sustainable CO₂ cycle” (DAM4CO₂), under the supervision of Prof. Marco Lessi and Prof. Marco Taddei. Currently, his research interest concerns the synthesis and characterization of Metal-Organic Frameworks based on non-critical raw materials.
Dr. Virginia Guiotto graduated in Materials Science at the University of Torino in 2021. In January 2022, she started her PhD in Chemical and Materials Sciences at the same university, under the supervision of Prof. Valentina Crocellà. The main target of the PhD programme was the advanced characterization of novel metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) potentially employed as fillers in novel composite materials for CO separation. During the PhD, she collaborated with an Italian PRIN project (doMino) and spent three months at the Heriot-Watt University of Edinburgh. She successfully completed her PhD program in March 2025. Dr. Virginia Guiotto has been working as an INSTM Junior Researcher in the Horizon Europe DAM4CO2 research project. Her research interests concern the advanced characterization of microporous materials such as MOFs and polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs), with a particular focus on in situ infrared spectroscopy and volumetric/calorimetric techniques.
Alireza Nazari Khodadadi, completed his M.Sc. degree in bioorganic chemistry at Sharif University of Technology under the guidance of Prof. Hamidreza Kalhor in 2018. Then, he worked in R&D at the pharmaceutical company CinnaGen Group. In 2021, he commenced a Marie Curie Ph.D. fellowship (STiBNite) under the supervision of Prof. Luigi Vaccaro at the University of Perugia, Green S.O.C. In April 2024, Alireza transitioned to the role of Junior Researcher within the HORIZON-EIC-2022 ''DAM4CO₂'' project, where continues to contribute to research within the same research group.
Maria Sole Notari, graduated cum laude in Chemical Sciences at the University of Perugia in September 2022. She has already worked on MOFs for CO₂ adsorption during her undergraduate studies. For one year she worked as a research fellowship in the PRIN2020 project “doMino”. From March 2024, she joined the European project "Double Active Membranes for a Sustainable CO₂ Cycle" (DAM4CO₂) supervised by Prof. Ferdinando Costantino as a research fellowship. Her main task within this project is to deal with the synthesis scale-up of metal-organic frameworks based on non-critical raw materials.
Federico Panagini, graduated in Industrial Chemistry at the University of Turin in October 2024 working on the catalytic field under the supervision of Dr. Matteo Signorile. From November 2024 he is involved in the European project "Double Active Membranes for a sustainable CO₂ cycle" (DAM4CO₂) as a PhD student. His project, focused on advanced characterization of metal- and metal-oxides for catalysis, is supervised by Dr. Matteo Signorile and Prof. Valentina Crocellà.
Letizia Trovarelli, graduated cum laude in Chemical Sciences at the University of Perugia in September 2023, worked on MOFs (metal-organic frameworks) during her thesis under the supervision of Prof. Ferdinando Costantino. First as a Junior 1 Researcher and then, from January 2024, as a PhD student, she is involved in the European project "Double Active Membranes for a sustainable CO₂ cycle" (DAM4CO₂). Her project is supervised by prof. Ferdinando Costantino and prof. Valentina Crocellà. Her current research interest concerns the synthesis and characterisation of metal-organic frameworks based on non-critical raw materials.