Leonardo Marchese

Biography

Leonardo Marchese was born in Italy (Stigliano, MT) on 01.08.1960. He graduated with top mark (110/110 with laude) at the University of Turin on July, 1985 and obtained, in the same University, the PhD degree in Chemistry (September 1990), followed by the positions of Research Assistant (February 1992), Researcher (November 1994) and Associate Professor (November 1998). Since 2005, he is Full Professor in Physical Chemistry at the Faculty of Science MFN of the "Università del Piemonte Orientale “Amedeo Avogadro”- Alessandria, Novara, Vercelli". Since his PhD, L. Marchese has been studying morphology and reactivity of the surfaces of microcrystalline materials by means of optical spectroscopies (FTIR, Diffuse Reflectance UV-Vis and Photoluminescence), High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and by volumetric and thermogravimetric techniques. Both simple oxides (MgO, Al2O3, SiO2, TiO2, etc.) and metal supported on oxides (Ni/MgO, Pt/Al2O3, etc.) have been studied. L. Marchese worked for 18 months in the 1992-1994 period at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in London with Prof. sir J.M. Thomas on the determination of local structure and catalytic properties of acid and redox centres of microporous aluminophosphate and aluminosilicate-based zeolitic materials. These studies, published on "Science" and "Angew. Chem.", were performed by combining infrared, x-rays absorption and diffraction techniques and solid state NMR. Since 1994, L. Marchese has started a research activity, unique at national level, on the hydrothermal synthesis of both novel microporous aluminophosphates containing silicon ions and/or transition metal ions and novel mesoporous silicas functionalised with transition metal ions. These materials have displayed very interesting catalytic activity (especially high selectivity) in the oxidative dehydrogenation of alkanes (ethane and propane) and in the conversion of methanol to light olefins (MTO process). High performance in cracking reactions have been also obtained on innovative nanostructured micro and mesoporous aluminosilicate with acid properties. This discovery has been covered by a US patent.  Leonardo Marchese was born in Italy (Stigliano, MT) on 01.08.1960. He graduated with top mark (110/110 with laude) at the University of Turin on July, 1985 and obtained, in the same University, the PhD degree in Chemistry (September 1990), followed by the positions of Research Assistant (February 1992), Researcher (November 1994) and Associate Professor (November 1998). Since 2005, he is Full Professor in Physical Chemistry at the Faculty of Science MFN of the "Università del Piemonte Orientale “Amedeo Avogadro”- Alessandria, Novara, Vercelli". Since his PhD, L. Marchese has been studying morphology and reactivity of the surfaces of microcrystalline materials by means of optical spectroscopies (FTIR, Diffuse Reflectance UV-Vis and Photoluminescence), High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and by volumetric and thermogravimetric techniques. Both simple oxides (MgO, Al2O3, SiO2, TiO2, etc.) and metal supported on oxides (Ni/MgO, Pt/Al2O3, etc.) have been studied. L. Marchese worked for 18 months in the 1992-1994 period at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in London with Prof. sir J.M. Thomas on the determination of local structure and catalytic properties of acid and redox centres of microporous aluminophosphate and aluminosilicate-based zeolitic materials. These studies, published on "Science" and "Angew. Chem.", were performed by combining infrared, x-rays absorption and diffraction techniques and solid state NMR. Since 1994, L. Marchese has started a research activity, unique at national level, on the hydrothermal synthesis of both novel microporous aluminophosphates containing silicon ions and/or transition metal ions and novel mesoporous silicas functionalised with transition metal ions. These materials have displayed very interesting catalytic activity (especially high selectivity) in the oxidative dehydrogenation of alkanes (ethane and propane) and in the conversion of methanol to light olefins (MTO process). High performance in cracking reactions have been also obtained on innovative nanostructured micro and mesoporous aluminosilicate with acid properties. This discovery has been covered by a US patent. 

Research Interest

In the last years, he expanded his interests in the development of innovative layered or porous inorganic and organic/inorganic hybrids and multifunctional polyhedral silsesquioxanes (POSS), which have been used in several applications as: i) polymeric composite materials with enhanced flame retardant properties; ii) acid and/or redox catalysts for sustainable chemistry; iii) light emitting materials for optoelectronics; iv) magnetic materials for biomedicine.