News

• Workshop: New frontiers in multiscale modelling of advanced materials @ ECT* Villazzano, Trento (Italy), June 17-20, 2014.


• Second grant ERC assigned to Prof. Pugno


• Prof. Pugno in the Italian TV program Superquark (22/08/2013, in Italian)
  
  
  
  
• Prof. Pugno discovers The “Egg of Columbus” For Making The World’s Toughest Fibres (see also Astri e particelle in Le Scienze Blog).


• Congress: CERMODEL2013 Modelling & Simulation Meet Innovation in Ceramics Technology Trento (Italy), July 10-12, 2013.


• 2nd International Summer School on Smart Materials & Structures. July 22-26, 2013, Trento (Italy).


• N. Pugno, Effetto Loto. LE SCIENZE (2013), n 537, 58-63 (Maggio 2013).


• Prof. Pugno Invited Member of the Young Academy of Europe.


• Highlight in "Trentino" (in italian, March 19, 2013).


• Interview in local newspaper "Trentino" (in italian, January 31, 2013).


• Welcome to Trento in "L'Adige" (in italian, January 31, 2013).


• Highlight in "Trentino" (in italian, December 21, 2012). The unacknowledged risk of Himalayan avalanches triggering at Winter Universiade Conference 2013, International Interdisciplinary Conference on University Sport: Inspiring Innovation (December, 9-10, 2013, Rovereto (Italy).


• Interview in "Le Scienze" (in italian, October 2012).


• Movie of the "PLENARY LECTURE: FALLING WALLS CONFERENCE. FUTURE BREAKTHROUGHS IN SCIENCE AND SOCIETY, 9 November 2012, Berlin, Germany".
  
  

Movies

Publications

1. A. CARPINTERI; PUGNO N., Are the scaling laws on strength of solids related to mechanics or to geometry?, NATURE MATERIALS, pp. 421-423, 2005, Vol. 4, ISSN: 1476-1122.
2. C.H. KE; PUGNO N.; B. PENG; H.D. ESPINOSA, Experiments and modeling of carbon nanotube NEMS device, JOURNAL OF THE MECHANICS AND PHYSICS OF SOLIDS, pp. 1314-1333, 2005, Vol. 53, ISSN: 0022-5096.
3. PUGNO N., Space elevator: out of order?, NANO TODAY, pp. 44-47, 2007, Vol. 2, (Invited) Highlighted by Nature (450, 6, 2007) ISSN: 1748-0132. (see also the related stories in Nature: “The space elevator: going down? Study shows that proposed carbon nanotube cables won't hold up”, News at Nature, 22 May 2006; “Out of reach”, Nature 450, 22 November 2007).
4. N. PUGNO, Spiderman gloves. NANO TODAY (2008), 3, 35-41. (See also the related stories in New Scientist: “Gecko power could turn you into a spider”, New Scientist, 28 April 2007, 26; “With no visibile means of support”, New Scientist, 19 July 2008, 23; “Ten sci-fiction that could soon be in your hands”, New Scientist, 26 January, 2009).
5. PUGNO N.; F. BOSIA; A. CARPINTERI, Multiscale stochastic simulations for tensile testing of nanotube-based macroscopic cables, SMALL, pp. 1044-1052, 2008, Vol. 4, ISSN: 1613-6810.
6. X. Shi, Y. Cheng, N. M. Pugno, H. Gao, Tunable water channels with carbon nanoscrolls. SMALL (2010), 6, 739-744.
7. N. Pugno, The design of self-collapsed super-strong nanotube bundles. J. OF THE MECHANICS AND PHYSICS OF SOLIDS (2010), 58, 1397-1410.
8. S.W. Cranford, A. Tarakanova, N. Pugno, M.J. Buehler, Nonlinear material behaviour of spider silk yields robust webs, NATURE (2012), 482, 72-78. Cover Story and 18 pages of Supplementary Information, DOI 10.1038/nature10739.
9. P. H. Tan, W. P. Han, W. J. Zhao, Z. H. Wu, K. Chang, H. Wang, Y. F. Wang, N. Bonini, N. Marzari, N. Pugno, G. Savini, A. Lombardo, A. C. Ferrari, The shear mode of multi-layer graphene, NATURE MATERIALS (2012), 11, 294-300.
10. J. Zang, Q. Wang, Q. Tu, S. Ryu, N. Pugno, M. Buehler, X. Zhao, Multifunctionality and control of the crumpling and unfolding of large-area graphene, NATURE MATERIALS (2013), 12, 321-325.

  

Curriculum

Research topics

1. Bio-inspired hierarchical super nanomaterials (eg. self-healing)
2. Super-strong graphene, nanotubes and related bundles and composites (e.g. flaw tolerant space elevator cables)
3. Smart adhesion of insects, spiders and geckos and related gecko-inspired nanostructured surfaces (e.g. Spiderman suits)
4. Self-cleaning & anti-adhesive super-hydrophobic leaves and related lotus-inspired nanostructured surfaces (e.g. anti-ice)
5. Spider-silk and web and related spider-inspired super-tough materials and structures (e.g. anti- catastrophes)
6. Design and fabrication of Nano Electro Mechanical Systems (eg. nanotubes or graphene based)
7. Hierarchical fibre bundle models, ropes, tissues and cellular solids (eg. role of hierarchy)
8. Graphene nanoscrolls and related systems (eg. nanomotors)
9. Nanomedicine: tumor cellular growth, nanovector therapeutics and scaffolds for the regenerative medicine (eg. flexible nanovectors)
10. Nanoindentation and related size- and shape-effects (eg. universal scaling laws on hardness)
11. Quantized Fracture Mechanics, in quasi-static, dynamic and fatigue regimes (eg. role of defects in graphene)
12. Nanoscale Weibull & Fractal Statistics and related size-effects on material strength (e.g. nanotubes statistics)
13. Multiscale fragmentation under impact and explosions and structural dynamics (e.g. universal scaling laws on energy dissipation)

Recent, past and future, plenary lectures

• Invited Speaker at Regina2013, 3-4 December 2013, Trieste.


• Invited Speaker at NanotechItaly2013, 27-29 November 2013, Venice.


• Lessons of Nanomechanics from Nature, 26 November 2013, Trento, Italy.


• Nanotecnology and Bio-inspired materials, Lecture at the European Academy of Bolzano, 21 November 2013.


• The sustainable link in a new approach between Europe and the Arab Nations, Round Table (including Nobel Laureate Mario J. Molina), 26 October 2013, Rimini, Italy.


• Invited lecture on Bioinspired Materials at 1st Euregio Research Cooperation Day, Highligth of Research at the University of Trento, 24-25 October 2013, Bolzano-Bozen.


• The “Egg of Columbus” For Making The World’s Toughest Fibres (Opening Lecture, via skype, at Nanoscience and Nanotechnology 2013, 30 September 2013).


• Graphene and bio-inspiration. 25TH ANNIVERSARY CONFERENCE OF THE ACADEMIA EUROPAEA (AE) (preliminary program), AE-LETTERS (for AE members elected in 2012 and Young AE members), Wroclaw, Poland, 16-19 September 2013.


• I Super-materiali del domani. TEDxMilano2013 “Ieri, Oggi, Domani”, June 1, 2013, Piccolo Teatro Grassi, Milan, Italy.


• Tavola Rotonda sul progetto Grafene, con Andrea Ferrari, Vittorio Pellegrini e Nicola Pugno, moderata da Piero Bianucci. May 16, 2013, Salone del Libro, Turin, Italy.


• Biology inspired Supermaterials: from the Space Elevator to Spiderman, LAGRANGE LECTURE (N. 4), Magnus-Haus Berlin Am Kupfergraben, Tuesday, May 7, 2013, Berlin. The discussion will be chaired by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Eberhardt Scientific Director Magnus-Haus.


• I Fantastici 4 (nanomateriali), GIOVEDÌ SCIENZA, February 7, 2013, Teatro Colosseo, Turin, Italy.


• FALLING WALLS CONFERENCE: FUTURE BREAKTHROUGHS IN SCIENCE AND SOCIETY, 9 November 2012, Berlin, Germany. World class researchers present their "ideas that could dramatically transform life worldwide" (Scientific American) every 9 November in Berlin to an exclusive audience from science, business, politics, culture and society. Sponsorized also by ERC and Nature.


• Come costruire la tuta dell'uomo ragno, FESTIVAL DELLA SCIENZA, October 29 2012, Palazzo Ducale, Sala del Maggior Consiglio, Genoa, Italy.


• Nanomechanics of graphene. GRAPHEL, 27-30 September 2012, Mykonos, Greece.


• Designing nature-inspired super materials, in IdeasLab Harnessing Science with Nature Magazine (Facilitated by Dr. Campbell, Editor-in-Chief, Nature Magazine), WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM, 11-13 September 2012, Tianjin, China.


• From mind to market: energy materials (Facilitated by Dr. DiChristina, Editor-in-Chief, Scientific American), WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM, 11-13 September 2012, Tianjin, China.


• Fracture and adhesion of super-nanomaterials, 19th European Conference on Fracture, 26-31 August 2012, Kazan, Russia.


• The fantastic 4 (nanomaterials): graphene (the strongest), spider-silk (the toughest), gecko foot (the most adhesive) and lotus leaf (the most anti-adhesive). First International Conference on Mechanics of Nano, Micro and Macro Composite Structures, June 18-20, 2012, Turin, Italy.


• Chi tesse la tela dell’uomo ragno?, SETTIMANA DELLA SCIENZA, March 15 2012, Teatro del Popolo, Gallarate, Italy.


• I fantastici 4 (nanomateriali), Winner of "PREMIO GIOVEDÌ SCIENZA", March 7 2012, Teatro Colosseo, Turin, Italy.


• Chi tesse la tela dell’uomo ragno?, GIOVEDÌ SCIENZA, January 12 2012, Teatro Colosseo, Turin, Italy.

Adjuncts Scientists

ERC Press

• Profs. Pugno and Bigoni at the ERC Meeting in Naples
• Prof. Pugno winner of the ERC Proof of Concept
• Compliments to my dear friend and colleague Prof. Davide Bigoni
• Prof. Pugno at the Annual Meeting of the Young Academy of Europe 2013
• Prof. Pugno in the Erc Annual Report 2012
• Prof. Pugno in the ERC facebook.
  
• Prof. Pugno invited by ERC to give the first italian Plenary Lecture at Falling Walls.
  
• Prof. Pugno invited by ERC as Young Scientist at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2012.
  
• ERC grantee in Nature Magazine (see ERC Press, February 2 2012).
• Prof. Pugno winner of the ERC Ideas Grant (see ERC Press).