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🔥 A big week for A-Lab! 🔥
We’re proud to share two new publications that highlight the broad scope of our work at the intersection of light, heat, and matter, spanning from ultrafast nanoscopic dynamics to macroscale energy systems.

🔬 At the nanoscale, our study in J. Phys. Chem. C uncovers a counterintuitive phenomenon: electron–phonon temperature inversion in nanostructures under pulsed photoexcitation. These insights are fundamental for controlling energy flows at the femtosecond timescale and optimizing hot-carrier-based technologies.
📄 Link to JPCC paper: https://lnkd.in/dHr_KNwg

🌞 At the macroscale, our Nature Water article introduces STREED — a membrane-free solar thermal desalination system powered by resonant energy transfer (RET). This off-grid solution is dynamically tunable and capable of delivering fresh water under intermittent illumination, enabling decentralized water treatment in resource-limited settings.
📄 Link to Nature Water paper: https://rdcu.be/elZeL

Together, these two papers showcase how we explore photothermal phenomena from fundamental phenomena to real-world impact.
Congrats to all our amazing collaborators!

Great job, Giuseppe, for starting this collaboration with Prof. Angelo Sampaolo and the University of Bari.

Looking forward to continuing to work on this!

Thesis title: Multiphysics modeling of ultrafast optical processes for manipulating photoelectronic and photothermal mechanisms in plasmonic systems

Congratulations to Andrea and Keith! A great work on modeling how energy is transferred from the electromagnetic field to molecules. Published on ACS Nano:

Congratulations to Dr. Narmada Naidu (now at EPFL) for the excellent work!

Light can be absorbed in nanoparticles to locally generate heat and thermally ablate tumors. We have developed a comprehensive modeling approach for optimizing this Nanoparticle Assisted PhotoThermal Therapy to maximize damage to the tumoral regions while minimizing treatment time and preserving healthy tissues.

Optimization strategies include choosing precise nanoparticle concentrations and adopting specific spatiotemporal modulation of the input illumination.

You can find more information and details in our paper published in ACS Photonics:

Routes to Optimizing Photothermal Cancer Therapy through a Comprehensive Theoretical Model

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsphotonics.4c00491

 

It was great to teach with colleagues Prof. Raudel Avila (MECH), Prof. Eleonora Bartoli (Baylor College of Medicine and adj. Rice ECE) and my student Will Schmid the Summer School:

Selected Topics in Computational Engineering for Scientific Challenges of the 21st Century: From Bioelectronic Devices to Solar Desalination Systems

hosted by the Department of Electronic Engineering of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, Colombia!

We have simulated electrical conductivity maps to reproduce intracranial electrophysiology data to investigate neural pathways in the human brain.

The research has been published in the Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

A biophysically constrained brain connectivity model based on stimulation-evoked potentials.

See the full article here: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsphotonics.2c01251