Davide Bernasconi

My research activity finds its foundations in applied mineralogy, mineral-environment interactions and solid-state materials chemistry. The experience accumulated over the years during my career has led to an excellent mastery of techniques for the manipulation and characterization of the solids normally accessible in a solid-state laboratory. The variability of approaches employed (XRPD, SEM-EDS, mCT, XRF, TGA-DSC, IR/Raman and solid-state NMR spectroscopies), even exploiting unconventional instrumentation (synchrotron mCT, XAS, SAXS, XPCS), have contributed to the formation of a wide range of skills in laboratory and data processing activities, stimulating a multidisciplinary attitude fundamental to the study of complex natural and anthropogenic systems.

My current research projects involve:

1. Studies on the mineralogical and chemical composition, stability and environmental hazardousness of industrial alkaline waste (incineration ashes, steel slag, mine tailings, etc..).
2. Design and quantification of CO₂-mineralization processes through industrial alkaline waste carbonation, by optimizing the reactivity of the waste mineralogical phases.
3. Evaluation of the alkaline waste behaviour when recycled into traditional and low-carbon binders (Portland cement, phosphate cement, geopolymers, Mg-carbonate cement), in terms of reaction products, cement microstructure and material properties.
4. Fundamental studies on the molecular structure, microstructure and dynamics aggregation behaviour of phosphate and aluminosilicate-based amorphous binders.
5. Quantitative mineralogical analysis on clays, soils, rocks, ceramics, cement.