Chiara Neto | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | University of Florence |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Ulm Saarland University Australian National University University of Sydney |
| Website | Neto Lab |
Chiara Neto is an Italian Australian chemist and Professor of Physical Chemistry at theUniversity of Sydney. Her research considers functional nanostructures and the design of new materials for sustainable technologies. She is the former President of the Australasian Colloid and Interface Society and was selected as anAustralian Research Council Future Fellow in 2018.
Neto studied chemistry at theUniversity of Florence.[1][2] She remained there for her doctoral studies.[1] Neto moved to theUniversity of Ulm, where she spent a year as a postdoctoral scholar before joiningSaarland University.[1] She moved to Australia in 2003, where she spent three years as anAustralian Research Council Fellow at theAustralian National University.[3]
In 2007 Neto was appointed a Lecturer at theUniversity of Sydney, where was promoted to Full Professor in 2020.[3] Her research considers biomimicry and the creation of functional structures inspired by nature.[3][4]
She has created superhydrophobic surfaces that, imitating a lotus leaf, repel water and keep clean. Such nanostructured materials can be used in situations where repelling liquids and preventing fouling is advantageous, for example, the food industry.[3] In certain scenarios, such as ships moving through water, the flow of fluids against solid surfaces is crucial for performance.[5] By engineering the topography of solid surfaces, Neto can precisely control and study the flow of fluids that interact with them. This allowed Neto to design surfaces layers that allow ships to move efficiently through water, reducing power consumption.[3] Neto has demonstrated that functional coatings can be used to capture atmospheric water from air, reducing humidity and alleviating anywater scarcity.[3]
