Welcome to Claudio Zannoni* home page

*Emeritus Professor of Physical Chemistry at University of Bologna, Italy.

C. Zannoni photo

Address:

Prof. Claudio Zannoni

Dipartimento di Chimica Industriale "Toso Montanari",

Università di Bologna,

40136 Bologna,

ITALY

e-mail: claudio.zannoni@unibo.it

Curriculum Vitae

Academic Career
- 1972, Laurea in Industrial Chemistry, University of Bologna , Italy (110/110 with lode and M. Betti Prize). Supervisor: Prof. G.F. Pedulli.
- 1975, Ph.D. in Chemical Physics, University of Southampton (U.K.). Thesis: On the molecular theories of liquid crystals. Supervisor: Prof. G.R. Luckhurst.
- 1975-1982, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Industrial Chemistry, University of Bologna
- 1979-80, 1980-81, 1981-82, Visiting Lecturer, ``Liquid Crystals and Liquids" course, Department of Chemistry, University of Southampton, UK.
- 1982-1987, Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry, University of Bologna
- 1987-2018 , Full Professor of Physical Chemistry, University of Bologna
- 1998 - , Founder and Director, of the International School of Liquid Crystals (ISLC), Erice, IT
- November-December 1998, February-April, 2003, November-December 2010, Invited Professor, Scuola Universitaria Superiore, IUSS, University of Pavia,
- 2004, Awarded Sturgeon Lecture of the British Liquid Crystal Society, Manchester.
- 2009-2010, appointed visiting Adjunt Professor; 2012-2014, appointed visiting Chair Professor, Centre for Modelling Simulation and Design (CMSD), University of Hyderabad, India.
- November 2004-October 2010, Department Director, Dipartimento di Chimica Fisica ed Inorganica, University of Bologna
- September 2010, Awarded G.B. Bonino medal of the Italian Chemical Society- Physical Chemistry Division.
- November 2010-October 2012, Department Deputy Director (Vicedirettore), Dipartimento di Chimica Fisica ed Inorganica, University of Bologna
- January 2012- September 2012, Chairman (Presidente) Corso di Laurea Magistrale in Chimica Industriale, Faculty of Industrial Chemistry, University of Bologna
- August 2012- July 2016, President of the International Liquid Crystal Society (ILCS), Kent, OH
- October 2012- September 2015, Chairman (Coordinatore), Master Course in Industrial Chemistry, School of Science (Corso di Laurea Magistrale in Chimica Industriale, Scuola di Scienze), University of Bologna
- December 2012-December 2016, Chairman of EU-PRACE Access Panel
- March 2013-April 2013, Visiting Fellow, Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences (INI), University of Cambridge, UK
- January 2014 and February 2917, Academic Visitor, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, UK
- August 2015, "Academic Icon" Visiting Professor, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- February 2018, Solvay Colloquium Lecturer, ULB, Bruxelles.
- November 1st, 2018 retired
- November 1st, 2018-October 31st 2020, Alma Mater Professor, Università di Bologna
- January 2019-June 2019, Visiting Fellow, Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences (INI), University of Cambridge, UK
- May 2020 -, Emeritus Professor, University of Bologna
- April 2022, Awarded G.W. Gray medal of the British Liquid Crystal Society at the Bristol UWE meeting
- May 2025 Chemical Society Reviews "Outstanding Reviewer 2024"
Scientific Activity
- Most of the research activity is in the field of liquid crystals and anisotropic soft materials using theory, computer simulations and various spectroscopical techniques and has led to over 300 publications in international journals or books, particularly on:
  - Computer Simulations and Modeling (Monte Carlo, Molecular Dynamics) of lattice (Lebwohl-Lasher), molecular (Gay-Berne) and atomistic models as well as Statistical Theories of bulk and confined Liquid Crystals.
    - Lattice models are used to investigate orientational properties and phase transitions of a variety of 3D, 2D, 1D bulk systems, but also to model displays s and to simulate defects in droplets and in hybrid films as well as their core structure and the effect of external fields .We study nanoconfined systems, in particular the effects on order and memory of silica aerosils and polymer fibrils dispersed in nematics. We have also investigated differences in the Schlieren textures of uniaxial and biaxial nematics. We have also developed models for liquid crystal elastomers and for topological defects in nematic shells covering colloidal particles to examine the possibility of controlling the location of this "reactive" sites More rccently we have studied topoogical defects in various hybrid films successfully comparing with experiments.
    - Gay-Berne (GB) systems are molecular resolution models employed to study various liquid crystal phases and their transitions. In particular computer simulations of nematics and of their nematic-isotropic and nematic-vapour alignment properties have been performed. The molecular organization near surfaces, for instance near a chiral wall or near a graphite surface is investigated. Modeling of the macroscopic liquid crystal properties resulting by simple changes in the molecular structure, particularly due to the effect of permanent dipoles are studied in smectics, where the dipole position in the molecule is shown to influence profoundly the phases obtained, even with domain formation and in columnar systems . We have also studied flexoelectric effects for pear shaped GB molecules
    - Modelling of novel mesophases. We have developed generalized versions of the GB potential that allow non-uniaxial and non-symmetric shapes. Using these models we have succeeded in simulating thermotropic biaxial nematics and a ferroelectric nematic designed from tapered molecules by suitably combining repulsive and attractive interactions. Fullerene mesogens have been studied combining GB and Girifalco potentials, with the aim of investigating morphologies promising for efficient carrier transport in organic photovoltaics.
    - Modelling of Liquid Crystal Polymers. We have extended the GB model further to model LC polymers with anisotropic beads and springs in bulk and nanoconfined systems.We have developed soft GB potentials that have allowed the off-lattice simulation of swollen liquid crystals elastomers (LCE) and actuators.
    - Atomistic simulations of Liquid Crystals. We model geometry and charge distribution of liquid crystal (LC) molecules using Quantum Chemistry techniques and we simulate and predict, using Molecular Dynamics, their properties and phase transitions. We have succeeded in obtaining LC phase transition temperatures and in reproducing the odd-even effect, i.e. the large alternation in mesophase transition temperatures and properties shown by many homologous series of liquid crystals containing (CH₂)_n chains when varying the parity of n. . We have also succeeded in simulating the nematic-isotropic transition temperature and the properties of n-cyanobiphenyls (nCB, n=5,6,7,8),sexithiophene T6 and other liquid crystals.
    - Atomistic simulations of alignment and anchoring of organic functional materials and liquid crystals on surfaces. We have investigated the alignment of liquid crystals close to a surface, like crystalline silicon and silica both crystalline and glassy and of other hard and soft interfaces like Self Assembled Monolayersand polymers.
    - Organic Electronic applications. We have simulated at atomistic level various systems: e.g. Phthalocyanine columnar systems, indenofluorene trimers etc in order to allow calculation of tranport properties in the various morphologies, Columnar donor-acceptor bilayer solar cells,
    - Atomistic simulations of Proteins : We have investigated certain proteins (e.g. prion proteins, particularly in connection to misfolding diseases) and their conformational changes in solution. We have proposed the use of a chirality indicator to identify and monitor the evolution of chiral motifs in proteins from molecular dynamics trajectories
    - Development of theories and of data analysis methodologies for the study and characterization of liquid crystalline materials, including polymers and lipid membranes, with various techniques: Fluorescence Depolarization, ESR, NMR, Dielectric Relaxation, particularly for the determination of their order parameters and dynamics. A few examples:
      
      Maximum entropy techniques are developed to extract conformational information on flexible molecules, mainly from NMR data.
      An analysis of Fluorescence polarization using a theory of rotational diffusion for biaxial molecules we have developed has been applied to molecules as complex as Chlorophyll a in nematics to derive its order parameters and diffusion coefficients.
      A theory for rotational-translational diffusion for biaxial molecules in uniaxial phases has been developed.
      Energy Transfer experiments are modeled using computer simulations for rodlike and discotic systems with an aim to asses the effect of phase organization on the efficiency and directionality of Forster transfer.
    - Experimental ESR spin probe studies are used to study order and dynamics in various complex systems,e.g. nematics with dispersed aerosils or nanodroplets in holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystals (HPDLC).
Presentations

C.Z. has given more than 350 invited talks in a number of Universities and Research Institutions including: Yerevan (Armenia); Graz (Austria); Brussels, Leuven, Mons (Belgium); Aguas de Lindoia, Foz do Iguaçu, Maceiò (Brazil), NRC, Ottawa, UBC, Vancouver (Canada); Xiamen, Fudan-Shangai, Beihang Univ., Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking Univ. - Beijing. (China); Tampere (Finland), Bandol, Bordeaux, Cergy-Pontoise, Lyon, Orsay, Paris, Sete, Strasburg (France); Berlin, Bremen, Juelich, Kaiserslautern, Mainz, Stuttgart (Germany); Corfu, Rhodes (Greece); Budapest (Hungary); Hyderabad (India); Dublin (Ireland); Bologna, Cagliari, Calabria, Camerino, Cetraro, Erice, Ferrara, Firenze, Genova, Milano, Modena, Novara, Padova, Palermo, Parma, Pavia, Perugia, Pisa, Portonovo (AN), Ravenna, Rimini, Roma, Rovereto, Salerno, Torino, Trento, Trieste, Tropea, Urbino, Venezia (Italy); Kyoto, Nagoya, Nara, Osaka, Sendai, Tokyo, Tsu (Japan); Jeju, Seoul (Korea); Luxembourg (Luxembourg), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Trondheim (Norway); Krakow, Torun (Poland); Lisbon (Portugal); Moscow (Russia), Ljubljana, Maribor, Portoroz, Rogaska-Slatina (Slovenia); Elche, Peñíscola, Zaragoza (Spain); Stockholm (Sweden); Lausanne-EPFL, Lugano, Zurich-ETH (Switzerland); Hsinchu, Tamsui-Taipei, Taichung (Taiwan) ; Eindhoven, Enschede, Groningen, Leiden, Utrecht (The Netherlands); Belfast, Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, Edinburgh, London, Loughborough, Manchester, Norwich, Oxford, Sheffield, Southampton, York, Warwick (UK); Atlanta (GA), Biddeford (ME), Boston - ACS (MA), Breckenridge (CO), Courant Institute - New York (NY), Kent State (OH), Mount Holyoke (MA), IMA, Minneapolis (MN), Penn State (PA), Princeton (NJ), San Diego (CA), Colby-Sawyer, Tilton (NH); Washington (DC)- NIST (USA). (Click here for a list of talks).
- Editorial Boards
  - Advisory Editorial Board of Chemical Society Reviews, RSC , IF 2023: 40.4 UK (2011 - )
  - Editorial Advisory Board of Molecular Crystals Liquid Crystals, USA (1996- ).
  - Editorial Board of Liquid Crystal Today, UK (2001-)
  - Associate Editor of Electronic - Liquid Crystal Communications, USA (2002-)
  - Editorial Advisory Board of ChemPhysChem, Wiley, DE (2000-2014)
  - Editorial Board of Chemical Society Reviews, RSC, UK (2005-2010)
  - Section Editors Board of Chemistry Central Journal, Biomed Central, UK (2007-2010)
  - International Advisory Board of Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics , UK (1999-2002 )
  - Editorial Board of Journal of Fluorescence, USA (1992- 2001)
  - Editorial Advisory Board of Liquid Crystals Interactive Online, USA (1998-2000)
  - International Advisory Board of J. Chem. Soc. Faraday Transactions,UK(1993-1998 )
  - International Advisory Board of Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiopia, Eth. (1989-1996; 2001-2010)
  - Editorial Board of Molecular Physics, UK (1984-1992 and 1998-2000 )
  - Editorial Board of Liquid Crystals, UK (1986-1990)
- Other Activities and Services
  
  Director of the International School of Liquid Crystals (ISLC), at the Centro Ettore Majorana, Erice , since 1998 (click here for a booklet with information for participants and a few photographs). .A total of 26 courses have been completed within ISLC at Sep. 2023.
  - Member of CINECA Scientific Advisory Board for the allocation of Supercomputer Resources . ISCRA (2010-2016,2018-2023,2024-)
  - President of the International (ILCS) Liquid Crystal Society (Aug 2012-July 2016). He has also been on the Board of ILCS as representative for Italy (July 2000-2012).
  - Member of the European Science Foundation (ESF) Pool of Reviewers (May 2006-April 2012), of the EPSRC Peer Review College (2006-) and reviewer for a number of Institutions, including Belgian BELSPO and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
  - Chairman of CINECA Scientific Committee for PRACE (2012-2016).
  - Member of PRACE Scientific Steering Committee (Dec. 2012-Dec. 2018)
  - Chairman of PRACE Access Panel (Dec. 2012-2016)
  - Member of the Chemistry Panel of Experts of the European Community, Human Capital and Mobility project (1992-1994). Member of the Fellowships and of the Networks Chemistry Review Panels for the Training and Mobility of Researchers Program (1995, 2001).
  - Member of the MCT International Chemistry Panel of Evaluation ( Avaliação das Unidades de Investigação), Portugal (1996)
  - Member of the Scientific Board of the "Istituto dei composti del carbonio contenenti eteroatomi e loro applicazioni" (ICOCEA) CNR, Bologna (1997-2000) and of the "Centro Studi CNR sugli Stati Molecolari Radicalici ed Eccitati" (CSSMRE), Padova (1997-2000).
  - Member of the INFM Evaluation Panel (2000).
  - Member of the International Advisory Board of the Southampton Liquid Crystal Institute (1996-2003).
  - External Member of the INFM (National Institute for the Physics of Matter) Directors Board ("Consiglio Direttivo") (2001-2003).
  - Member of the Physical Chemistry Division Board (Direttivo Divisione di Chimica Fisica) of SCI, the Italian Chemical Society (2004-2006)
  - Coordinator of CRIMSON the INSTM reference Center for Modelling and Simulation of Molecular Organizations and Nanosystems (2007)
  - Member of the International Scientific Committee CCT , Ceramics, Cells and Tissues Meeting , ISTEC, Faenza (2007)
  - Director of the Theory Section of INSTM , the Italian Consortium for Science and Technology of Materials (Florence) (formerly INCM 1993-1996) and member of its Scientific Council (1996-March 2009).
  - Coordinator of the National "Virtual" Computational Laboratory of INSTM at CINECA computing centre providing supercomputer and general computing resources and access to selected scientific software to INSTM members (1997- 2009).
  - Chairman of the Scientific Users Selection Panel (SUSP) panel for the High Performance Computing Centres Access programme: HPC-Europa (2004-2012) .
  - Member of the Scientific Panel (Comitato Scientifico) of the Science Festival (Festival della Scienza), Genova (2006-2012)
  - Director with Dr. P. Pasini (INFN, Bologna) of the NATO ASI: Advances in the Computer Simulation of Liquid Crystals, Erice, Italy, 11-21 June 1998 (click here for a group photo of the participants) and with P. Pasini and S. Zumer of the NATO ARW "Computer simulations of defects in liquid crystals including their relation to theory and experiment" , Erice 19-23 September 2000.
- National Collaborative Projects
- International Collaborative Projects
  - EU HCM Network, Molecular Organisation in Liquid Crystals Resulting from Particular Intermolecular Interactions, (CHRX-CT93-0161) coordinated by Prof. D. Dunmur (Sheffield) with groups from Berlin (K. Praecke), Bilbao (M.A. Perez-Jubindo), Bologna (C.Z.), Grenoble (P. Maldivi), Ivanovo (N. Usoltseva), Krakow (L. Longa), Moscow (M. Osipov), Patras (D. Photinos), Pisa (S. Faetti), Sheffield (D. Dunmur), Southampton (G.R. Luckhurst), Strasbourg (D. Guillon), Zaragoza (J.L. Serrano) (1993-1997).
  - EU HCM Network, Organization and Dynamics of Molecules in Ordered Phases: Integration of Experiments, Theoretical Models and Simulations, (CHRX-CT93-0282) coordinated by Prof. P.L. Nordio (Padova) (1993-1997) with groups from Bologna (C.Z.), Firenze (R. Righini), Southampton (G.R. Luckhurst), Bristol (R. Richardson), Stuttgart (G. Kothe), Utrecht (Y. Levine), Sevilla (L.F. Rull).
  - EU-COST D3/0006/94 , "Structural and dynamic properties of liquid crystalline materials" coordinated by Prof. P.L. Nordio (Padova) (1 Oct 1994 -9 Sep 1997)
  - EU TMR Network Molecular Design of Functional Liquid Crystals (FMRX-CT97 - 0121, 1 Nov. 1997- 31 Oct. 2002) coordinated first by the Prof. P. L. Nordio (Padova) and then after is untimely death (on 20 Oct. 1998) by Prof. G.R. Luckhurst (Southampton) . Participant groups from Bologna (C.Z.), Freiburg (G. Kothe), Hull (G. Mehl), Lisbon (A. Farinha Martins), Padova (P.L. Nordio, G.J. Moro), Patras (D. Photinos), Southampton (G.R. Luckhurst, D. Dunmur, J.W. Emsley) Strasbourg (D. Guillon), Zaragoza (J.L. Serrano)
  - NEDO (Japan) network New Dipolar Liquid Crystals : Synthesis, Simulation and Switching coordinated by Prof. D. Bruce (Exeter), with Profs. D. Guillon (Strasbourg), T.M. Swager (MIT), H. Takezoe (Tokyo Institute of Technology.) (1998-2001).
  - EU TMR Network Functional Liquid Crystalline Elastomers FULCE (HPRN-CT-2002-00169) coordinated by Prof. H. Finkelmann (Freiburg) with groups from Universities of Strasbourg (D. Guillon), Barcelona (D. Velasco), Exeter (D. Bruce), Ljubljana (S. Zumer), Ilmenau (2002- August 2006). FULCE network meeting Ravenna 19-21 Feb2004 .
  - India-Italy Bilateral ST MAE Materials Science & Technology project: Computer simulations of confined liquid crystals with Prof. V.S.S. Sastry, Dept. of Physics, University of Hyderabad (2005-2007) .
  - EU Integrated Project NAnoscale Integrated processing of self-organizing Multifunctional Organic materials (NAIMO) IP 500355 (2004-2008), coordinator Prof. Yves Geerts (ULB, Brussels). Coordinator of WP7 (training) and of the University of Bologna Unit.
  - EU FP6-NMP-NSF-1 016434 Project MODelling Electro-active COnjugated materials at the Multiscale MODECOM coordinated by Prof. Alison Walker (University of Bath ), together with groups from University of Cambridge (Neil Greenham); Universitè de Mons-Hainaut (David Beljonne, Johannes Gierschner); Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (Zhigang Shuai); Georgia Institute of Technology (Jean-Luc Brédas, Rigoberto Hernandez, David Sherrill); MIT, Boston (Robert Silbey ); Princeton University (Zoltan Soos); University of Michigan (Ted Goodson); Cambridge Display Tech (Clare Foden); Atomistix, Copenhagen (Kurt Stokbro, Jose Torres). Bologna MODECOM workshop 14 Jan 2009. University of Bologna Unit coordinator.(2006-2009)
  - Slovenia-Italy Bilateral ST MAE, project F9: Lattice Simulations of Liquid Crystal Elastomers with Prof. Slobodan Zumer, Dept. of Physics, University of Ljubljana (2006-2009).
  - EU FP7 Integrated Project Organic nanomaterials for Electronics and Photonics (ONE-P): IP 212311 (Jan. 2009-Dec 2011), The ONE-P project is coordinated by Prof. Yves Geerts (ULB, Brussels) and comprises Université de Mons Hainaut, Mons, BE ; University of Cambridge, UK; CSIC , Bellaterra, Spain ; Max Planck, Mainz, Germany; CNR ISMN, Bologna, Italy; University of Copenhagen, Denmark; Linköpings Universitet, Sweden; Chalmers University of Technology, Goeteborg, Sweden; IMEC, Leuven, Belgium; Rijksuniversiteit, Groningen, The Netherlands; Westfaelische-Wilhelms Universitaet Muenster, Germany; TNO, Delft, The Netherlands; Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France; Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Germany; University of Nova Gorica, Adjovscina, Slovenia ; UCL, London, UK; Queen Mary and Westfield College,London, UK; Technische Universität , Dresden, Germany; Philips Electronics, Eindhoven, The Netherlands; STMicroelectronics, Agrate Brianza, Italy; Merck LC, Southampton, UK; Scriba Nanotecnologie, Bologna, Italy; Johnson Matthey, Reading, UK; BASF, Ludwigshafen, Germany; Innova, Rome, Italy; VDI/VDE, Berlin, Germany; Imperial College, London, UK. Coordinator of WP7 (training) and of the University of Bologna - INSTM Unit. Bologna-CNR 12M meeting Jan 18-20-2010.. The UNIBO group has organized the ONEP School in Erice in April 2010.
  - EU FP7 STREP Biaxial Nematic Devices (BIND): FP7-216025 (Feb 2008-Jan 2012) coordinated by Prof. Demetri Photinos (University of Patras), together with groups from University of Oxford (Stephen Elston, Peter Raynes), Trinity College Dublin (Jagdish Vij), University of Freiburg (Heino Finkelmann), University of Hull (Georg Mehl), University of Halle (Carsten Tschierske) . UNIBO unit coordinator
  - EU FP7 Small Scale Collaborative Project Modelling of electronic processes at interfaces in organic-based electronic devices (MINOTOR) : CP-FP228424-2 (2009-May 2012) coordinated by Profs. J. Cornil, D. Beljonne, R. Lazzaroni, University of Mons-Hainaut UMH, with University of Linköping (W.R. Salaneck, M. Fahlman) Sweden; University of Twente (M.P.de Jong, G.H.L.A. Brocks) The Netherlands; IMEC (P. Heremans) Belgium; University Bordeaux, (F. Castet) France; University of Bologna (C. Zannoni), Italy; Universitad Autonoma de Madrid (F. Flores), Spain; BASF (C. Lennartz) , Germany; Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, (W. Wenzel) Germany; Georgia Institute of Technology, ( J.-L. Brédas) USA; Princeton University (A. Kahn) USA.
  - India-Italy Bilateral ST MAE Materials Science & Technology project: Computer simulations and NMR investigations of responsive materials for photonics applications with Prof. V.S.S. Sastry, Dept. of Physics, University of Hyderabad (2012-2014)
  - EOARD - Awards to International Educational Institutions and Non-Profit Organizations"Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Air Force Material Command, USAF, grant FA8655-11-1-3046, Modelling ferroelectric nanoparticles in nematic liquid crystals (FERNANO) (1 Sep 2011 - 31 Aug. 2014 and Sep 2015-2018).
  - EXTMOS (EXTended Model of Organic Semiconductors) EU-H2020- 646176 collaboration of academic and industrial partners: the Universities of Bath (A. Walker), Mons (D. Beljonne), Bologna, Karlsruher Institute of Technology (W. Wenzel), CEA Research institutes of Nanosciences et Cryogénie (T. Deutsch) and Institut Néel (X..Blase) in Grenoble, Max Planck Institut für Polymerforschung, Mainz (P. Blom), IMEC (D. Cheyns), Interuniversitair Mikro-Elektronica Centrum, Leuven, Novaled (M.Furno), FlexEnable Cambridge (B. Yaglioglu), Silvaco Europe (A. Nejim) and Nanomatch./T. Strunk), (July 2015- July 2019
  - PRIN 2015: Molecular Organization in Organic Thin Films via Computer Simulation of their Fabrication Processes (2015XJA9NT) , with University of Salerno (G. Milano) and Politecnico di Milano (G. Raos) (2017-2019)
  - A3ES. 2022 Member of the External Assessment Team of the Agency for Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES, Portugal) for the evaluation of Master and PhD courses in the area of Chemistry.
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Last modified: June 2025 (updated CZ). Original web page template by Stefano Zannoni (2000).