Tag Archives: collaboration

Zamaneh’s last day, Sami sees his teacher after 14 years

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Every year we have one or two interns from Turku Vocational Institute (Turun ammatti-instituutti). Teacher Jouni Jantunen and doctoral candidates Sami and Hannah held a skills demonstration review for our intern Zamaneh Baradari who spent her last day here at IMC. The joy of reunion was immense because Jouni was Sami’s physical chemistry and chemistry calculations teacher in the vocational institute in 2004–2007, and they hadn’t seen each other after 2007 before this day.

Jouni (left) and Sami.

Let’s meet next year again, Jouni!

Sami’s article receives attention in newspapers and magazines

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IMC group and our whole chemistry department has received attention from various newspapers and magazines with PhD student Sami Vuori‘s article (corresponding author Adjunct Professor Mika Lastusaari) that was recently published in Advanced Optical Materials: “Detection of X-Ray Doses with Color-Changing Hackmanites: Mechanism and Application“. In addition to showing a practical application, the article also reveals the mechanism of hackmanite’s coloration upon X-ray exposure, which has never been researched thoroughly before.

Image by Sami Vuori.

In the article, Sami imaged a dead body of an ant using a film with hackmanite powder on it. When the X-rays hit the film, the hackmanite colors from natural white to pink, and since the ant’s body attenuates X-rays, some photons are absorbed in it and won’t color the film. This is a simple method, which does not require any expensive analyzers since one can see the result directly.

Image by Sami Vuori.
Image by Sami Vuori.

The article was an international joint effort consisting of researchers from the University of Turku (PhD student Sami Vuori, Adjunct Professor Mika Lastusaari, Dr. Isabella Norrbo, Professor Petriina Paturi, Professor Timo Saarinen and University Teacher Heikki Palonen), University of São Paulo in Brazil (Dr. Lucas C. V. Rodrigues), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Dr. Jörg Göttlicher and Dr. Ralph Steininger) and University of Lyon (PhD student Pauline Colinet, Assistant Professor Tangui Le Bahers).

Public outreach lecture about chemistry

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As a public outreach, Adj. Prof. Mika Lastusaari had a presentation about chemistry in one of Turku Teacher Training School’s IB line’s Integrated Science course visitor lectures. Hannah and Sami also got to tell why they have come to study chemistry and what inspires them, and also demonstrated color change and afterglow with the compulsory praise for inorganic chemistry! The “set” is shown in the photos.

Collaborative project GlowTrack gets 3-year funding

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Academy of Finland has selected five projects to be funded in the call to promote international collaboration under the RADDESS Academy Programme. One of the projects is the GlowTrack consortium led by our Adj. Prof. Mika Lastusaari and co-led by Assoc. Prof. Laeticia Petit and Assoc. Prof. Jonathan Massera from Tampere University. This high-impact project focuses on developing implants that are both bioactive and have red or NIR persistent luminescence.

The overall funding amount for the five projects is 12 million euros, with 2 million euros directed towards projects promoting international collaboration. 470 775 euros are allocated for GlowTrack, and the University of Turku’s share is 232 711 euros, making 49.4 % of the project’s funds. The project will be funded from January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2022.

The news in Finnish:
https://www.utu.fi/fi/ajankohtaista/uutinen/turun-yliopiston-johtamalle-glowtrack-konsortiolle-rahoitusta-suomen

In English:
https://www.aka.fi/en/about-us/media/press-releases/2019/academy-of-finland-funds-international-research-collaboration-in-radiation-detectors-with-two-million-euros/

Two new collaboration publications about glasses

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Check out these two new collaboration publicatoins about persistent luminescence in glass materials.

Ojha, N., Trautvetter, T., Norrbo, I., Kallide, A., Lastusaari, M., Mueller, R., and Petit, L. “Sintered silica bodies with persistent luminescence” Scripta Mater. 166 (2019) 15-18.
Read online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2019.02.044

Szczodra, A., Kuusela, L., Norrbo, I., Mardoukhi, A., Hokka, M., Lastusaari, M., Petit, L., “Successful preparation of fluorine containing glasses with persistent luminescence using the direct doping method” J. Alloy Compd. 787 (2019) 1260-1264.
Read online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2019.02.075

New publications

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Some new publications added into the year 2019! You can choose to read about oxovanadium complexes or if you’re more interested in luminescent materals you can choose between clays and glass materials.

Ojha, N., Tuomisto, M., Lastusaari, M., and Petit, L. “Phosphate glasses with blue persistent luminescence prepared using the direct doping methods” Opt. Mater. 87 (2019) 151-156.
Read online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.optmat.2018.03.063

Santos, H.S., Laihinen, T., Rodrigues, L.C.V., Sinkkonen, J., Mäkilä, E., Damlin, P., Nakamura, L.K.O., Brito, H.F., Hölsä, J., and Lastusaari, M., “Red- and green-emitting nano-clay materials doped with Eu3+ and/or Tb3+” Luminescence 1 (2019) 23-38.
Read online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bio.3561

Sobhanadhas, L.S., Kesavan, L., Lastusaari, M., and Fardim, P., “Layered Double Hydroxide-Cellulose Hybrid Beads: A Novel Catalyst for Topochemical Grafting of Pulp Fibers” ACS Omega 4 (2019) 320-330.
Read online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.8b03061

Hossain, M.K., Haukka, M., Lisensky, G.C., Lehtonen, A., and Nordlander, E. “Oxovanadium(V) complexes with tripodal bisphenolate and monophenolate ligands: Syntheses, structures and catalytic activities” Inorg. Chim. Acta 487 (2019) 112-119.
Read online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ica.2018.11.049

New collaboration publication about warm-light LED materials

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Check out the new collaboration publication about microwave-assisted synthesis of Ti-doped rare-earth oxysulfides for warm-light LED materials.

Carvalho, J.M., Pedroso, C.C.S., Machado, I.P., Hölsä, J., Rodrigues, L.C.V., Głuchowski, P., Lastusaari, M., and Brito, H.F. “Persistent luminescence warm-light LEDs based on Ti-doped RE2O2S materials prepared by rapid and energy-saving microwave-assisted synthesis” J. Mater. Chem. C 6 (2018) 8897-8905.
Read online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C8TC01826J

Publication: Shielding upconverting nanoparticles with layer-by-layer method

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Check out our latest publication about upconverting nanoparticles and their shielding in aqueous environments from the link below.

Palo, E., Lahtinen, S., Päkkilä, H., Salomäki, M., Soukka, T., and Lastusaari, M., “Effective Shielding of NaYF4:Yb3+,Er3+ Upconverting Nanoparticles in Aqueous Environments Using Layer-by-Layer Assembly” Langmuir 34 (2018) 7759-7766.
Read online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.8b00869