Maria dos Santos Morais

Maria Morais is a PhD student in Nanotechnologies and Nanosciences. She obtained a Master's in Biomedical Engineering from NOVA School of Science and Technology in February 2021. Her master's thesis focused on the development of non-enzymatic glucose sensors based on zinc oxide nanostructures. 

Post-graduation, Maria expanded her expertise to include laser processing for synthesizing materials, notably tungsten trioxide and zinc oxide. She has experience in synthesizing metal (gold and silver nanoparticles), metal oxide (zinc oxide tungsten oxide), and multicomponent oxide (zinc tin oxide) nanostructures through various chemical solution synthesis methods, including colloidal, co-precipitation, and conventional and microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis. Her proficiency extends to the characterization of materials, where she has hands-on experience with Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. 

In 2023, Maria embarked on her doctoral journey, delving into the development of pressure and bending sensors based on piezoelectric materials such as zinc oxide. These sensors are designed for integration into flexible substrates, paving the way for their potential use in cutting-edge wearable devices.

Silvestre, S. L., Morais, M., Soares, R. R. A., Johnson, Z. T., Benson, E., Ainsley, E., Pham, V., Claussen, J. C., Gomes, C. L., Martins, R., Fortunato, E., Pereira, L., & Coelho, J. (2024). Green Fabrication of Stackable Laser‐Induced Graphene Micro‐Supercapacitors under Ambient Conditions: Toward the Design of Truly Sustainable Technological Platforms. Advanced Materials Technologies. https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.202400261

Pinheiro, T., Morais, M., Silvestre, S., Carlos, E., Coelho, J., Almeida, H. V., Barquinha, P., Fortunato, E., & Martins, R. (2024). Direct laser writing: from materials synthesis and conversion to electronic device processing. Advanced Materials. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202402014

Morais, M., Marques, A. C., Ferreira, S. H., Pinheiro, T., Pimentel, A., Macedo, P., Martins, R., & Fortunato, E. (2022). Visible photoluminescent zinc oxide nanorods for Label-Free non-enzymatic glucose detection. ACS Applied Nano Materials, 5(3), 4386–4396. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.2c00474

Ferreira, S. H., Morais, M., Nunes, D., Oliveira, M. J., Rovisco, A., Pimentel, A., Águas, H., Fortunato, E., & Martins, R. (2021). High UV and sunlight photocatalytic performance of porous ZnO nanostructures synthesized by a facile and fast microwave hydrothermal method. Materials, 14(9), 2385. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14092385