Simone Simon Napolitano

Born in Cosenza (Italy) 1981, after obtaining a master degree in Materials Sciences (Università di Pisa, Italy, Jun ‘05) and a PhD in Polymer Physics (KULeuven, Belgium Oct ‘05 – Oct ‘07, funded by the FP6 RTN Polyfilm, Marie Curie Actions, till Sep ‘08), I started a postdoctoral appointment granted by the FWO (Oct ’08 – Sep ‘11). Since Sep ’11 I hold a tenured position at ULB, where I created the Laboratory of Polymer and Soft Matter Dynamics / Laboratoire de Dynamique de Polymères et de la Matière Molle.

I am an experimental soft matter physicist, and my main research activity is the investigation of molecular mobility. Understanding how molecules “move” has strong implications on condensed matter physics. Motion of molecules at different length and timescales, in fact, significantly affects material properties such as flow, diffusion, adhesion, etc. The experimental activity performed in this field is crucial to test theory on the glass transition and nature of the liquid state.

In the laboratory I direct at ULB, we are interested in identifying, at fundamental level, the conditions permitting to improve performance without altering the chemical state of a system, that is, how to increase the value of common materials by physical methods (fast processing, nanoconfinement, …). Such procedures would permit reducing production costs and increasing durability of materials.