Riccardo Polini was the first scientist to prove in 1992 that cleavage surfaces provide suitable sites for the heterogeneous nucleation of diamonds grown from the gas phase. As a chemist he is interested in searching answers to fundamental questions of the nature, especially in the area of materials chemistry and nanotechnology. His running projects deal with the synthesis of tungsten carbide powders and the production of nanodiamond/Si structures for the conversion of concentrated solar energy.