External Scientific Lead — Nanophotonics, NanoTRIZ Innovation Institute (Remote)

Research Expertise:

• Strain-engineered semiconductor nanostructures and nanomembranes

• Rolled-up silicon and silicon-oxide micro- and nanotubes

• Optical microcavities and microtube ring resonators

• Whispering-gallery-mode spectroscopy

• Refractive-index and optofluidic sensing

• Microfluidics and femtolitre-volume optical analysis

• Raman spectroscopy and optical characterisation

• Semiconductor thin films and nanostructure fabrication

• Germanium–silicon quantum-dot superlattices

• Thermal transport and thermoelectric nanomaterials

• Scientific data analysis, visualisation and analytical reporting

Biography:

Dr Alessandro Bernardi is a materials scientist and experimental physicist whose work spans semiconductor nanostructures, nanophotonics, optical spectroscopy, microfluidic sensing and data analytics. He received an MSc in Materials Science from the University of Padua in Italy, completed a Diploma of Advanced Studies in Condensed Matter Physics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and obtained his PhD in Materials Science from the UAB Faculty of Physics. His doctoral thesis, Growth and Optical Characterization of Strain-Engineered Semiconductor Nanostructures, was awarded the grade Excellent cum laude in 2016.

During his scientific career, Dr Bernardi was affiliated with both the Institute for Integrative Nanosciences at IFW Dresden and the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona, ICMAB-CSIC. In the Dresden research environment, he worked on strain-driven self-assembly of semiconductor nanomembranes into three-dimensional tubular structures and investigated their optical and sensing properties.

He was the first author of the 2008 Applied Physics Letters paper “On-chip Si/SiOₓ microtube refractometer.” The study demonstrated that rolled-up Si/SiOₓ microtubes could function simultaneously as hollow microfluidic channels and optical ring resonators. Changes in the refractive index of liquids introduced into the tube produced measurable spectral shifts in whispering-gallery modes. The device architecture enabled optical analysis of liquid volumes in the femtolitre range and represented an early example of integrated rolled-up optofluidic sensing.

His broader research has included the growth and optical characterisation of strained semiconductor structures, Ge/Si quantum-dot superlattices, amorphous germanium thin films, Raman analysis of semiconductor nanostructures, thermal-transport reduction in nanostructured materials and the development of silicon-compatible thermoelectric concepts.

Dr Bernardi’s subsequent professional work expanded into data science, digital analytics and scientific communication. He is a co-founder of Social Elephants and works with data collection, performance indicators, analytical reporting, data visualisation and the interpretation of complex digital datasets. He also teaches Data Journalism and Big Data at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. This interdisciplinary background combines experimental scientific training with contemporary expertise in data-driven analysis, reporting and communication.