ANTONINI CARLO

Role
Associate professor  
Academic disciplines
Materials Science and Technology (IMAT-01/A)
Scientific-Disciplinary Group:
MATERIALS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (09/IMAT-01)
Office phone
Room:
  • U05, Floor: 2, Room: 2023
Reception hours

Please contact me for an appointment

Biography

I received the BSc in Aerospace Engineering (2004) and the MSc in Aeronautical Engineering (2007), from Politecnico di Milano, Italy, and the PhD in Technologies for Energy and Environment from University of Bergamo (2011), Italy, with a thesis titled “Superhydrophobicity as a strategy against icing”. In 2012, I received support from the European Research Council (ERC) to join ETH Zurich, Switzerland, as a Marie Curie Fellow; I worked in the Laboratory of Thermodynamics in Emerging Technologies on the project “ICE2: ICEphobicity for severe ICing Environments”. In March 2015 I joined EMPA – Swiss Federal Laboratory for Material Science and Technology – as scientist, focusing on the control of surface wetting properties of cellulose-based materials for various engineering applications, ranging from liquid separation (oil remediation) to thermal insulation. One of projects included ice templating as a technique to fabricate ultra-porous foams from nanofibrillated cellulose with selective liquid absorption. Since 2017 I am the scientific advisor of ApiTech (www.api-tech.it), an italian startup supporting innovation in SMEs. In September 2018 I joined the Department of Materials Science at the University of Bicocca-Milano (Italy), as tenure-track senior researcher, with support of a Rita Levi Montalcini Fellowship. In 2021 I got tenured as associate professor.

If my classical CV is not enough, please have a look at my CV of failures here.

 

Research

I am the the PI of SEFI Lab – the Laboratory of Surface Engineering and Fluid Interfaces.

SEFI Lab brings about research and innovation for the development of new technologies towards clean water and energy-efficient processes, two corner stones for sustainable development.

Research activities focus on understanding interfacial transport phenomena, for the design of innovative smart interfaces. SEFI Lab is characterized by an interdisciplinary approach, at the interface between thermofluidics, material science and surface micro- and nano-engineering.

The main research lines of SEFI Lab are:

- water-surface interaction: icephobic surfaces, atmospheric water harvesting

- 3D printing using DLP (Digital Light Processing)

- biopolymer films (chitosan and cellulose)

 

Publications

  • Ibanez Ibanez, P., Stendardo, L., Ospina, C., Chaudhary, R., Tagliaro, I., Antonini, C. (2025). Discontinuity-enhanced icephobic surfaces for low ice adhesion. JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE, 679(part A (February 2025)), 403-410 [10.1016/j.jcis.2024.09.205]. Detail

  • Akbari, R., Ambrosio, F., Berry, J., Antonini, C. (2025). Wetting characterisation on complex surfaces by an automatic open-source tool: DropenVideo. JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE, 678(Part A ( 15 January 2025)), 1075-1086 [10.1016/j.jcis.2024.08.159]. Detail

  • Anny, O., Stendardo, L., Tagliaro, I., Antonini, C., Tosatti, S., Ibáñez-Ibáñez Pablo, F. (2025). Low ice adhesion on soft surfaces: Elasticity or lubrication effects?. JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE, 677(Part B (January 2025)), 494-503 [10.1016/j.jcis.2024.08.042]. Detail

  • Akbari, R., Sartipizadeh, P., Wei, Y., Reza Mohammadizadeh, M., Antonini, C. (2024). From drop impact to fog harvesting using hydrophobic meshes. Intervento presentato a: 13th International Colloids Conference, Sitges, Barcelona, Spain. Detail

  • Tagliaro, I., Radice, V., Nistico', R., Antonini, C. (2024). Chitosan electrolyte hydrogel for low ice adhesion material. Intervento presentato a: eMRS - 2024 Spring Meeting, Strasbourg. Detail

Research projects

Understanding fundamental polysaccharide-ice interaction for sustainable food supply chain materials
Year: 2023
Call: FAQC 2023 - prima finestra
Grantors: Università degli Studi di MILANO-BICOCCA
PNRR per la Missione 4, componente 2 Investimento 1.1- Avviso 104/2022 | SMARTICE - Advanced de-icing surfaces based on engineered shape memory alloys
Year: 2022
Call: Bando PRIN 2022
Grantors: MINISTERO DELL'UNIVERSITA' E DELLA RICERCA (MUR)
SURFICE - Smart surface design for efficient ice protection and control
Year: 2020
Call: Innovative Training Networks
Grantors: EUROPEAN COMMISSION
RE­PHOB: Superfici superidrofobiche resilienti in condizioni avverse
Year: 2016
Call: Programma per giovani ricercatori Rita Levi Montalcini 2015
Grantors: M.I.U.R. - MINISTERO DELL'ISTRUZIONE, DELL'UNIVERSITA' E DELLA RICERCA - Dipartimento per la Formazione Superiore e per la Ricerca - Direzione Generale per il Coordinamento, la Promozione e la Valorizzazione della Ricerca

Awards

Awards

  • Premio Giovani Talenti dell'Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, con il Patrocinio dell'Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca e Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 2020

Editorial boards

  • Guest Editor di rivista o collana editoriale - NANOMATERIALS, 2022 - 2023
  • Membro del Comitato Editoriale - COATINGS, 2022
  • Guest Editor di rivista o collana editoriale - POLYMERS, 2022 - 2023