Vincenzo VENDITTO | Curriculum

Curriculum vitae et studiorum of prof. Vincenzo Venditto
Vincenzo Venditto graduated in Chemistry in 1988 at the University of Napoli, where in 1993 he also received his Doctorate in Chemistry, concerned property-structure relationships in stereoregular polymers, under the supervision of prof. P.Corradini. In 1994 he began his academic career at the University of Salerno where in 2006 he was appointed Associate Professor. In 2012 and 2017 he received the Italian National Scientific Qualification (ASN, “I fascia”) for the disciplinary scientific sectors (SSD) 03/B2 and 03/C2, respectively.
Teaching Activity
Before his appointment as associate professor (1994-2005), he was lecturer in the undergraduate program in Chemistry (laboratory courses: Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry; lecture course: Polymer Chemistry and Technology). After his appointment as associate professor (2006-to present), he has been lecturer in the undergraduate program in Chemistry (Advanced techniques for Polymer characterization, Polymer Chemistry and Technology, Biomaterials) and Environmental Science (Waste Management).
He supervised 46 undergraduate and postgraduate students, 5 PhD students and 4 postdoctoral research assistants.
Academic Responsability
Since 2002 he is safety supervisor of the laboratories of Polymeric Materials, Thermal Analysis and X-ray Diffraction, of the Department of Chemistry and Biology of the Salerno University.
Since 2003 he is a member of the College of Graduate Studies in Chemistry, and since 2013 he is a member of the Council of Undergraduate and Master in Environmental Sciences, of the Salerno University.
Since 2003 he is a member of the Council of the Doctoral School in Chemistry (from 2019 changed in, Doctoral School in Chemistry, Biology and Environmental Science).
In 2015 and 2020 he was chairman of the Selection Committee for admission to doctorate course in "Chemistry" at the Salerno University.
Since 2016, he has been the representative of Salerno University on the Governing Council of “Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale per la Scienza e Tecnologia dei Materiali” (INSTM).
Research Interests
The early research interests of prof. Venditto were on the stereoregularity in Ziegler-Natta -olefin polymerizations, which were studied by molecular mechanic simulation of model catalytic sites. Later his research interests were focused on polymeric material properties, and in detail on the structure-properties relationship of new, and/or industrially relevant, polymeric materials.
A large part of his research has focused on the physical-chemical and structural characterization of polymeric materials by using thermal analysis, spectroscopic and microscopic techniques and X-ray diffraction.
Eventually, Vincenzo Venditto has extensive experience in the analysis of the impact and the role of polymer microstructure and crystallinity on physical behavior of polymers.
He studied commercial and non-commercial polyolefins for a long time but, in the wake of the growing scientific and industrial interest in biobased/biodegradable polymers, in recent years he has turned his attention to physical-chemical and structural characterization of polyesters obtained from monomers derived from renewable resources (e.g. lactide, caprolactone and unsaturated monomer as ω-6-hexadecenlactone).
He also extensively studied polymers having microporous-crystalline phases, i.e. crystalline phases presenting an ordered 3-D distribution of molecular-size cavities and exhibiting density lower than the corresponding amorphous phase. These materials have the peculiar characteristic to absorb gases and volatile organic compounds, also when they are present in traces in the environment, forming stable host-guest complexes (co-crystals). Microporous-crystalline polymer phases were obtained for the first time and widely studied by researchers of the University of Salerno, including Vincenzo Venditto, starting from two commercial polymers, syndiotactic polystyrene (sPS) and poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene)oxide (PPO). For these polymers, monolithic aerogels, whose physical knots are constituted by microporous-crystalline polymers, were also developed with the contribution of Vincenzo Venditto. Polymeric aerogels with microporous-crystalline phase, are characterized by high sorption capacity of the microporous crystalline phases (due to the sorption of molecules as isolated guests of the host crystalline phase) associated with high sorption kinetics typical of aerogels (due to the high and disordered porosity of the aerogels).
In recent years, based on these results, Vincenzo Venditto has devoted himself to preparation, characterization and testing of composite polymeric materials that couple the photocatalytic properties of heterogeneous catalysts to the high sorption and kinetics capacity of sPS/PPO aerogels, in order to use them for applications in water remediation from volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and persistent pollutant (POPs). These composite
catalytic systems have the advantage of minimizing the aggregation tendency of catalytic particles, as well as facilitating the catalyst recovery thanks to composite macroscopic size. Furthermore, the polymeric phase gives the composite system robustness (resistance to common acidic/basic/oxidizing environments) and selectivity, since only low polar compounds can pass through the non-polar polymeric phase.
Based on the acquired expertise in preparation and physical-chemical characterization of catalysts, photocatalysts, composite catalysts and nanomaterials, the scientific interest of Vincenzo Venditto is currently directed towards the design and implementation of new catalysts and polymer/catalyst composites with catalytic properties activated by visible light for conversion or purification of liquids and gases containing VOCs and POPs.
Publications overview
Research activity of Vincenzo Venditto is documented by 94 scientific papers on International and Peer Reviewed Journals, 4 book chapters as well as 4 Italian and 2 international patents. Most of his scientific papers are published in high IF journals. Some examples are:
2 Advanced Materials (IF=16.4)
2 Journal of the American Chemical Society (IF = 12)
4 Angewandte Chemie International Edition (IF=13.5),
5 Chemistry Of Materials (IF=9.567)
1 Chemical Science (IF = 9.346)
Moreover he has given more than 60 communications and 12 invited lectures to Conferences.
Bibliometric Indexes Scopus
His h-index is 30 (total citations 2804), his most cited article has 168 citations.
Articles having more than 100 citations are 6.
The most recent article having the highest citation number (64) is from 2016.
Recent international collaborations
prof. Moshe Kol of Tel-Aviv University, prof. Hideyuki Itagaki of Shizuoka University, prof. Christophe Thomas of Chimie ParisTech, Carlo Adamo of Institut de Recherche de Chimie Paris (CNRS).
Grants and Funding
From 1998 to 2011 he took part in numerous European research COST projects (2003-2004 and 1999-2000), projects of national interest PRIN (1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2007, and 2011) and FIRB (2001) and projects of regional interest LR 41/94 and LR5/2002 (1998, 1999, 2000, 2003).
In the last 10 years he took part in the following EU funded projects FESR 2007-2013 PON and POR:
PON01_01878 - LOWNOISE (05/06/2012 - 30/11/2015);
PON02_00556_3306937 - RELIGHT (23/09/2013 - 01/06/2015);
PON02_00556_3420580/6 - SMARTAGS (26/11/2012 - 26/11/2015);
POR-Campania, Asse 2-O. O. 2.2. - CAMPUS (March 2013- December 2015).
In all these projects he has played the role of expert in chemical physical, structural and mechanical properties of polymers.
He was the local coordinator of the following projects:
European project FP7, CUSTOM (2011-2014), contract no. 242387, leader company SELEX ES SPA (in this project he was the coordinator of INSTM-UNISA research unit)
FESR 2007-2013 POR-Campania, CORDATA (01/01/2015 - 30/04/2016).
MIUR-PRIN project (05/02/2017 - 05/02/2020), CTEBBA_004, PI (UniTO unit): prof. S. Bordiga.
In all these projects he played the role of coordinator of the local research unit, which designed tailored polymeric materials or polymer composites for other research units and/or analyzed polymer material properties supplied by other research units.
He also was scientific coordinator for FESR 2007-2013 POR-Campania TOT project (ASSE 1 - O.S. 1.1. “Increase in business innovation activity”, 26/11/2018 - 25/05/2020), leader company COGEI s.r.l.. In this project he played the role of creator, editor, coordinator and manager of the project.
Contribution to congress organization
In the last 10 years he has contributed to the organization of:
Chemistry Meets Industry and Society. A Creative Showcase Conference, Salerno, 28-30 AUGUST 2019;
XXVI Congresso Nazionale della SOCIETÀ CHIMICA ITALIANA, Paestum (Salerno) 10-14 Settembre 2017; POLYSOLVAT-10, 10th International IUPAC Conference on Polymer-Solvent Complexes and Intercalates, Salerno, 22-25 September 2014;
XXXVIII Congresso Nazionale dell'Associazione Italiana di Cristallografia, Salerno, 20-23 Settembre 2009.
Referees activity
He is a member of the editorial board of the sections "Polymer Chemistry" of the journal Frontiers in Chemistry and "Catalytic Remediation" of the journal Frontiers in Environmental Chemistry.
He is referee for the following international scientific journals:
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Journal of American Chemical Society, Macromolecules, Polymer, Polymer Journal, Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics, Advances in Materials Science and Engineering, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, Chemical Engineering Journal, Journal of Polymer Engineering, Journal of Macromolecular Science Part A, Solid State Sciences, Frontiers in Chemistry, Polymer Chemistry, Scientific Reports, Polymers for Advanced Technologies, Waters.
In recent years (2013-2020) he reviewed 17 articles.