The first edition of our brand new Winter School Advanced techniques for the analysis of novel materials strategic for sustainable transitions: 1. Bioplastics has just concluded successfully.

Organized by the Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry (DCCI) together with the Center for Instrument Sharing of the University of Pisa (CISUP), the Winter School offered a one-week full-time multidisciplinary program, dedicated to training students with a technical-scientific background on the advances in the analysis of materials of environmental chemical interest. This first edition was focused on the study of bioplastics.

Student had access to cutting-edge instrumentation present at DCCI, most of which is part of the CISUP, like:

1. analytical pyrolysis – gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) with micro UVirradiator system,
2. https://cisup.unipi.it/labs/vocus-2r-ci-tof-mass-spectrometer/">Vocus 2R CI-TOF mass spectrometer,
3. Bruker Avance NEO 500 Solid State NMR Spectrometer, 
4. Thermogravimetric Analyzer-Gas chromatography/Mass spectrometer TGA-GC/MS – TGA8000-Claurus 690 GC/Claurus SQ 8T MS + Thermogravimetric Analyzer/Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy TGA/FTIR - Q5000 IR (TA Instruments)/Cary 640 (Agilent Technologies).

In addition to two introductory lessons on the properties and production strategies of bioplastics, students were provided with detailed information on advanced techniques and, in particular, on the aforementioned instruments. The lessons included both a theoretical introduction (with a focus on applications) in the classroom and a practical one in the laboratory, accompanied by explanations on how to critically analyze the data.

16 students of different nationalities (8) and backgrounds (7 Italian universities, 4 foreign universities, and a private company) participated in the Winter School. Most of the students are currently carrying out their PhD on topics similar to those deepened during the Winter School, but not of a purely chemical nature. The students particularly appreciated the fact that most of the teaching hours included practical demonstrations in the laboratory and individual data processing. The instrumentation used was of great interest thanks to its variety and very high technical level.