Rute A. S. Ferreira

Maria Rute de Amorim e Sá Ferreira André (born 1974) got her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Aveiro, Portugal in 2002 and the Agregação in Physics in 2012, from University of Aveiro (UAVR). Currently, she is an Associate Professor with ''agregação'' at Department of Physics (University of Aveiro). • INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES Since 2021: Vice-director of CICECO–Aveiro Institute of Materials. Since 2021. Member of the General Board of the UAVR. Since 2019: Director on the doctoral program in Physics Engineering, UAVR. She has published over 380 SCI papers and 5 book chapters, with ca. 12330 citations (h-index 57). She has been involved in the mentoring and supervision of students/researchers at different levels. Namely, 12 post-doctoral fellows; 23 PhD students (12 joint degrees with Brazilian (9), French (2) and Spanish (1) universities), 21 M.Sc. and 25 undergraduate students. Her scientific interests include are focused on the optoelectronic studies on sol-gel derived organic/inorganic hybrids without metal activator centres and doped with lanthanide ions, processed as bulk and nanostructured monoliths and thin films and to crystalline and amorphous nanoparticles of semiconductors. She has hands-on experience on the optical (photoluminescence in steady-state, time-resolved modes, and quantum yield, as well as UV/Vis/NIR spectroscopy) and structural (XRD, SAXS, NMR, Raman, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopies) characterization of these materials. She has also expertise in the characterization of the waveguiding performance of organic-inorganic hybrids and on spectroscopic ellipsometry, including optimization of modeling algorithms. Her research aims at the interpretation of the photophysical behavior of these materials that are determined by synthesis and processing, foreseeing applications in the fields of optoelectronics and photonics (phosphors, solid-state lighting, and integrated optics) and photovoltaics (luminescent solar concentrators and down-shifting layers). In parallel, she has been working on luminescence magnetic materials (single ion/molecule magnets) and on luminescence thermometry focused on primary thermometers involving sustainable silicon-based NPs, Ln3+-based NPs, and organic-inorganic hybrids. Recently, she expanded her research interests to the application of luminescent materials for IoT featuring optical smart tags for sensing, authentication, and traceability.