Due to their extremely small size, and properties adaptable to virtually any application, nanoparticles have been attracting the interest of a wide range of science and technology fields. The characteristics of these tiny particles can be controlled by means of their composition, size and shape. Additionally, by combining different materials, it is possible to include different properties in the same nanoparticle or to make new properties emerge.

Brazil is a pioneering country in the exploration of oil in deep waters and a great quantity of this fossil fuel is stored in the porous space of carbonate rocks, especially in the pre-salt layer. These rocks are very heterogeneous and have complex pore systems, bringing great challenges to the extraction of oil and gas. After drilling an oil or gas reservoir, the natural pressure inside it causes the contents to flow naturally to the surface where the fluid is collected and directed to a tanker. However, a few years after the opening of the well, the amount of oil extracted daily tends to decrease due to the drop in internal well pressure.

From the biochemical point of view, we are a complex set of interconnected chemical reactions. The molecules that make up our bodies are in constant transformation, and this is what makes it possible for us to get energy from food, to regenerate damage to our tissues, and to synthesize the compounds necessary for life.

These modifications usually occur with the aid of other molecules called enzymes, which promote and accelerate chemical reactions without being consumed during the process.

A comprehensive understanding of the brain, its development, and eventual degeneration, depends on the assessment of neuronal number, spatial organization, and connectivity. However, the study of the brain architecture at the level of individual cells is still a major challenge in neuroscience.

Despite the recent advances in the production of electric vehicles, and the future prospect of hydrogen-powered engines, the replacement of the fleet will take several years. In the meantime, the number of vehicles continues to grow. For that reason, not only public policies must be appropriate to this reality, but also innovative technologies to reduce the release of pollutants into the atmosphere must be developed.

Infrared nanospectroscopy represents a major breakthrough in chemical analysis since it allows the identification of nanomaterials via their natural (label free) vibrational signatures. Classically powered by laser sources, the experiment called scattering Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy (s-SNOM) has become a standard tool for investigations of chemical and optical properties of materials beyond the diffraction limit of light.

One of the biggest challenges for the advancement of wearable devices, embedded to clothing and accessories, which would be capable, for example, of continuously measuring and transmitting vital sign data, is the availability of power without the need for large batteries.

Materials called ferroelectrics have the property of maintaining a spontaneous electric polarization, reversible by the application of an external electric field. These materials are additionally piezoelectric – inducing the accumulation of electrical charges by the application of mechanical stress – and pyroelectric – inducing a temporary voltage by heating or cooling. These properties make ferroelectric materials useful in a variety of applications, such as mechanical vibration sensors, medical ultrasound machines, or fire sensors.

The healing of a cutaneous wounds follows a rather complex process. A variety of conditions, including diseases such as diabetes, can cause some of the many factors involved in healing to not work properly. Because of that, the tissue is unable to regenerate and the wound becomes a chronic condition.

The development of faster and more efficient electronic devices involves the understanding of exotic properties of matter at the nanoscale. One of the classes of materials that present characteristics of interest for the electronics industry are the so-called topological insulators.

Topological insulators are materials only a few atoms thick that behave as insulators in the inner atomic layers, but as conductors in the surface. The electrical conductivity of these superficial layers is remarkably resistant to the atomic disorder caused by the presence of impurities, which is not the case in other materials.