Research Funding

Fondo Italiano per la Scienza (Italian "ERC" Starting Grant),  Principal Investigator

The SPIROχ project combines spin management in organic devices with direct detection and control of CISS to advance organic optoelectronics. It will establish a state-of-the-art laboratory where spin/photophysics is integrated with chiral device development. SPIROχ will pioneer chiral photophysics to uncover how chirality affects organic photovoltaic (OPV) performance and lifetimes. The project will start with model systems to optimize spin interactions in organic thin films, then apply this knowledge to fully working devices. Finally, SPIROχ will ultimately explore multifunctional devices capable of generating spin currents in purely organic layers. 

European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant),  Principal Investigator

The LIGHT-QIS project aims to advance molecular qubits for practical quantum technologies. It will leverage light to control spin interactions, enabling qubit initialization at liquid nitrogen temperatures and above, and the creation of light-switchable quantum gates. Optically initialized qubits will be integrated into thin-film organic devices, where spin-to-charge conversion will be detected electrically. By focusing on lab-scale devices, LIGHT-QIS will demonstrate how ensembles of qubits can be initialized, manipulated, and read out, paving the way for quantum technologies beyond low-temperature, resource-intensive setups. 

Global Marie Curie Fellowship, 2023-2025

The PHOTOCODE project, conducted in the Wasielewski group at Northwestern University, aims to extend the concept of the CISS effect to organic photovoltaics. Its scientific goal is to probe photoexcited spin interactions in novel chiral donor–bridge–acceptor organic dyads by combining optical and spin-sensitive techniques. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach that integrates advanced photophysical characterization, molecular engineering, and quantum mechanical calculations, PHOTOCODE seeks to unravel how chirality influences the electron transfer process and its spin selectivity. 

PNRR Young Researcher Grant, Principal Investigator, 2022-2023

This project, funded under a scheme supporting early-career researchers awarded the MSCA Seal of Excellence, is closely linked to my Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellowship. It was carried out for one and a half years and concluded upon the award of the Global Fellowship. 

PhD Research Fellowship, PhD student in the EPR group (U. Padova, 2014-2017)

My PhD research fellowship, awarded through a competitive selection process based on a research proposal and interview, focused on the development and characterization of the morphology and spin photophysics of novel nanostructured materials based on different nanoparticles (carbon dots, perovskite nanocrystals, and CdSe quantum dots) blended with organic semiconducting materials for photovoltaic applications.