I graduated in Chemical Engineering (from IST, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa) in 1984,
though my scientific career has been developed in Materials Science.
I started as a scholarship at LNETI (Ceramic Group, 1984 to 1986), and as visiting researcher at Instituto de Cerámica y Vídrio,
Madrid, Spain (Prof. Pedro Dúran’s group).
In 1986 I joined the IST as a Trainee Assistant (Materials Science Department) where I obtained my PhD degree in Materials Science,
in 1993 (Heavy Metal Fluoride Glasses, under the supervision of Prof. Rui Almeida). I was a visiting researcher at Instituto de
Física e Química de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil, in 1990 (Prof. Michel Aegerter’s group), and at Laboratoire de
Chimie Moléculaire (Unité Associé au CNRS 426) Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, France, in 1996 (Prof. Liliana Hubert-Pfalzgraf’s group).
In 2000 I was accepted as a post-doc at the Chemistry Department of Southampton University, UK (Prof. George S. Attard’s group).
In 2017 I obtained the Habilitation degree in Materials Science, from Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Departamento de Ciência de Materiais).
My current teaching activities (in the Chemical Engineering Department, IST) are largely in the areas of Science and
Technology of Glass and Ceramic and Materials Science.
My research is carried out at Centro de Química Estrutural (CQE/IST) and my
interests include the two overlapping areas: metastable materials (glasses, nanoparticles, photonic materials) and hybrid matrices
(inorganic-organic). I started by synthesizing and characterizing melt-quenched non-oxide glasses (fluoride and tellurite-based)
and then moved on to sol-gel synthesis. At a first stage I produced opals, then thin films, and lately nanoparticles (silica, titania, SPIONs)
being optical, magnetic and biomedical applications the main goals of my work. Recently hybrid silica-cellulose acetate membranes were designed and produced.
I edited 4 books, authored (or co-authored) 16 book chapters, 70 scientific papers, 1 International Patent, 2 trademarks.
I integrate several national and international organizations as a technical expert: ICG (T23), CT 194 Nanotecnologias (SC1, SC2, SC4),
AnI, AdI, IPQ, FP6, NMP EC, Materials Unit G3. I am member of International Scientific Program Committees: PHOTOPTICS (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018),
BIT’s Annual World Congress of Smart Materials (Singapore, 2016). Also I am an Editor of Glass Science in Frontiers in Materials (Glass Science) and a
referee in several ISI journals.
In 1986 I joined the IST as a Trainee Assistant (Materials Science Department) where I obtained my PhD degree in Materials Science,
in 1993 (Heavy Metal Fluoride Glasses, under the supervision of Prof. Rui Almeida). I was a visiting researcher at Instituto de
Física e Química de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil, in 1990 (Prof. Michel Aegerter’s group), and at Laboratoire de
Chimie Moléculaire (Unité Associé au CNRS 426) Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, France, in 1996 (Prof. Liliana Hubert-Pfalzgraf’s group).
In 2000 I was accepted as a post-doc at the Chemistry Department of Southampton University, UK (Prof. George S. Attard’s group).
In 2017 I obtained the Habilitation degree in Materials Science, from Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Departamento de Ciência de Materiais).