Paolo Falcaro received his PhD in Materials Engineering from Bologna University in 2006. Since then he has been working in the field of self-assembled materials, film deposition and crystal engineering. During the initial part of his career, he worked in applied research developing nanostructured materials for industry (Civen/Nanofab Italy) using the sol-gel method. Subsequently, he moved to an Australian national research organization (CSIRO, Australia) where he led a research team engineering porous crystals, related inorganic- and bio-composites.
In 2016, he joined Graz University of Technology at the Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry as a full professor in Bio-based Materials Technology. During the same year he became adjunct professor at the University of Adelaide (Australia). In 2017 he received the ERC consolidator grant.
He research focuses mostly on metal organic frameworks (MOFs), meso-porous materials and functional nanoparticles for applications including sensing, environmental remediation, biotechnology. He works in crystal growth methodologies, sol-gel, and self-assembly methods to produce novel composites. He develops positioning technologies for the fabrication of devices based on porous materials.
1) P. Falcaro, K. Okada, T. Hara, K. Ikigaki, Y. Tokudome, A. Thornton, A. J. Hill, T. Williams, C. Doonan, M. Takahashi, “Centimetre scale micropore alignment in oriented polycrystalline Metal-Organic Framework films via heteroepitaxial growth” Nature Materials 2017, 16, 342–348. doi:10.1038/nmat4815 Link
2) I. Stassen, M.J. Styles, G. Grenci, H. Van Gorp, W. Vanderlinden, S. De Feyter, P. Falcaro, D. De Vos, P. Philippe Vereecken R. Ameloot “Chemical vapour deposition of zeolitic imidazolate framework thin films” Nature Materials 2016, 15, 304-310. doi:10.1038/nmat4509 Link
3) P. Falcaro, R. Ricco, C. M. Doherty, K. Liang, A. J. Hill, M. J. Styles “MOF positioning technology and device fabrication”, Chem.Soc.Rev. 2014, 43 (16), 5513-5560. doi: 10.1039/C4CS00089G Link
4) K. Liang, R. Ricco, C.M. Doherty, M. J. Styles, S. Bell, N. Kirby, S. Mudie, D. Haylock, A. J. Hill, C. J. Doonan, P. Falcaro “Biomimetic mineralization of metal-organic frameworks as protective coatings for biomacromolecules” Nature Communications 2015, 6:7240. doi:10.1038/ncomms8240 Link
5) P. Falcaro, A.J. Hill, K.M. Nairn, J. Jasieniak, J.I. Mardel, T.J. Bastow, S.C. Mayo, M. Gimona, D. Gomez, J.W. Whitfield, R. Riccò, A. Patelli, B. Marmiroli, H. Amenitsch, T. Colson, L. Villanova, D. Buso “A new method to position and functionalize metal-organic framework crystals”, Nature Communications 2011 2-237. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1234 Link
Univ.-Prof. Dott. mag. Dr. Paolo Falcaro
Stremayrgasse 9, room CE01586
+43 316 873 32203
paolo.falcaro(at)tugraz.at