The online award ceremony will be held on the Facebook page @CNRsocialFB.

3.00 pm Presentation of the PRISM Prize
3.15 pm Processing and applications of two-dimensional nanosheet inks, Valeria Nicolosi (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland) - PRISM Senior Award
3.45 pm Probing driven quantum phases of high-temperature superconductors with ultrafast x-rays, Matteo Mitrano (Harvard University, USA) - Junior PRISM Award
4.15 pm Award ceremony
4.30 pm Conclusion

Abstract

Processing and applications of two-dimensional nanosheet inks
Valeria Nicolosi
Trinity College Dublin, School of Chemistry, CRANN Institute, AMBER and I-Form Centres, Dublin 2, Ireland

Liquid phase exfoliation has been proved to be a cheap, scalable method for the mass production of 2D sheets. This talk will first discuss the galaxy of existent layered materials, with emphasis on synthesis, liquid-phase exfoliation, and characterization, focussing on some key applications recently developed in our laboratories, ranging from energy storage to printed electronics. We will for example discuss how two-dimensional Ti3C2 (MXene) can be formulated in aqueous and organic viscous inks for extrusion printing and inkjet printing, respectively, and demonstrate direct MXene printing on various substrates. The additive- and binary solvent-free MXene inks do not show coffee ring effect, enabling high-resolution printing without substrate pre-treatment. The resulting all-MXene printed micro-supercapacitors showcase excellent charge storage performance, including areal capacitance up to 43 mF/cm2 and volumetric capacitance up to 562 F/cm3 in protic gel electrolyte, coupled with long lifetime and good flexibility. We also show examples of all-inkjet-printed MXene arrays for ohmic resistors. The versatile direct-ink-printing technique highlights the promise of MXene functional inks for scalable fabrication of easy-to-integrate components of printable electronics. We will also discuss how MXenes can be used as a conductive binder for silicon electrodes produced by a simple and scalable slurry-casting technique without the need of any other additives. The nanosheets form a continuous metallic network, enable fast charge transport and provide good mechanical reinforcement for the thick electrode (up to 450 µm). Consequently, record high areal capacity anodes (up to 23.3 mAh cm−2) can be demonstrated. EMI shielding applications will also be discussed.

Probing driven quantum phases of high-temperature superconductors with ultrafast x-rays
Matteo Mitrano
Department of Physics, Harvard University, 17 Oxford Street, 02138 Cambridge, MA, USA

In this talk, I will present our recent research on the manipulation of quantum materials with femtosecond laser pulses. Ultrafast optical excitation, especially when resonant to specific lattice modes, has recently emerged as a powerful means to control and induce new quantum phases in solids. A most striking example is represented by the discovery of dynamically driven superconductivity at temperatures far above the equilibrium critical temperature Tc. While this phenomenon has been observed in a variety of systems ranging from copper oxides to organic molecular metals, the microscopic physics of these dynamics is still largely unexplored. By focusing on the paradigmatic example of a light-driven copper oxide, I will show how time-resolved X-ray spectroscopy provides novel insights on the disruption of competing orders and the renormalization of effective electronic interactions. Further, I will discuss how recent advances in time-resolved resonant inelastic X-rays scattering (trRIXS) will enable probing light-driven modifications of the spin fluctuation spectrum.